October 3 – 10: Fall Ranch Week

Monday, October 4, 2004

Everyone came rolling in on Sunday, Leasha and Nate got back from Arizona about noon, Lyndsey got back from Houston bringing in this weeks crew with her. Maggie got in from Denver just after them.

This week’s crew includes several long time veterans who are Lynn from Indiana, this is his fourth or fifth time I’m not sure. Peg from Massachusetts is here for at least her eighth or more time. Fred from California is here again; second time this year and probably his tenth visit. He brought out a horse he sold me; the first time I have ever bought a horse sight unseen. He’s a cute little gray 3-year-old quarter horse. Fred decided a young horse just wasn’t what he needed.

All these folks brought along friends with them. Fred brought Liz from California and Debbie and Dave from England. Peg brought along Rose Lee from Mississippi. Lynn brought Hal and Jerry both from Indiana. And our one solo traveler is Rob from Texas.

It was a usual slow Monday morning at the N Bar, the horses were late getting in, Nate found them way up on the back side of N Bar Park about five miles from here. When he finally came in he was chilled to the bone from the 29-degree temperature.

They were out riding by late morning, heading out in two groups into 7HL to get a count on the cattle that are already in that pasture. It’s the one we head into next as we slowly make our way to the H.Q. for shipping over the next couple weeks.

Nate went out the wagon road through Ewe canyon, checking Nedra and Elladeane along the way finding cattle everywhere they went. They then went down Red Rock trail into T Bar canyon, which they followed upstream to T Bar tank and then up T Bar valley to fence tank. They saw cattle all the way counting about 65 head. A lot more than I expected there to be. There must be another leak somewhere.

Lindsey's group went over Feathery Hill and across the valley then covered Telegraph Mesa and on down into 7HL valley and then up and over to Steve tank and down Steve Canyon to Fence tank. They only saw eight head but found a gate up near the north boundary open and tracks going both ways. There’s our leak.

I spent the day unloading and reloading camp gear and horse feed in the trailers. We are leaving the horses at Fence tank since it’s closer to where we are working this week, Pitchfork pasture. Once again it’s too far to ride to and get any work done and too rough to trailer every day.

Maggie followed me out to Fence tank in her truck as I hauled the trailer of gear. Nates crew got in first and quickly unsaddled and turned the horses into the trap. Maggie then gave them a ride home. About an hour later Lindsey's crew got in and we unhitched the truck from the trailer and she drove them home. I’m staying out here at fence tank with the horses, after the low temps last week I decided that I wouldn’t subject the crew to camping out.

Hi 58 a bit windy. Lo 36

Tuesday, October 5, 2004

Last night was one of the warmest in weeks, but the warm air on the cold ground made for some thick fog in the morning. When I woke about 5am it took me a moment to figure out what the hell was going on. At first I wondered if I had died during the night and was in some celestial place. At about 6am when it was getting light I couldn’t even see the horses, which were twenty yards from me. Over the course of the morning it slowly burned off but at one time there was a fogbow, now I’ve seen rainbows, and snowbows but never a fogbow.

The crew was a bit late in getting here; having a horse medical situation they had to deal with before leaving. Chico has what we suspect is a weed seed or some thing in his eye. The top lid is the size of a golf ball and it’s oozing. They cleaned and flushed it as best they could but he’s no ribbon-winning patient. Then they had to catch and load five horses for spares to bring out. They got here to camp about 9:30am.

We saddled up and headed out to do a big gather of Pitchfork pasture. We rode all the way to the back side near Incognito and started from there working our way west back towards the gate at Fence tank. The wind blew hard all day making us twist our hats down hard. But it was a warm wind and other than that it was a near perfect day. Most of us worked along with the herd through T Bar valley picking up a bunch of cattle at Doubtful tank and then even more when we got down to Pit tank.

Lyndsey worked the upper country with Rose Lee and Peg. They only came up with a handful of cattle until they got to Hay canyon where they found about 25 head. We all met in the Turkey Track of canyons right before Fence tank and with a bunch of about 140 adults we put them through the gate into 7HL pasture.

It was a dang good gather getting out about 80% of the cattle we know were in Pitchfork pasture. The rest of the week we will ride a lot of miles getting in the rest…the smart ones.

The crew loaded up in the trucks and headed back to H.Q. about 5pm. I’ve been worn out from last week so I took a quick nap before feeding the 17 horses we have here at Fence tank. It sure felt good to take a nap, haven’t done that in ages.

Hi 50 stiff wind, lo 39

Wednesday, October 6, 2004

Last night after feeding the horses I stretched out by the campfire. A log for my pillow I watched the Milky Way shimmer and listened to the coyotes howl. It was just wonderful. Even though I was only ten miles from home it was a different world out there. I need to get away every once in awhile and spend some time out someplace new.

The crew got to camp about 9am and we were riding an hour later.

The best thing about having folks who have been here so much is we can really use them and get a lot of ground covered. Peg, Lynn and Fred each had their own crew and headed to different parts of the pasture. We really covered a lot of country and got in about 45 head before we called it a day. One crew reported they had seen an Antelope that had two broken rear legs up Steve canyon. Nate and Rob headed up there with a gun to put it out of its misery. They spotted it but could never get close enough to kill it. Pretty amazing how fast a two-legged antelope can move. Last we saw it he was headed up T Bar Ridge, I’m sure the coyotes and wolves will drag it down during the night. We had just wanted to spare it from such a terrifying death. Nate and Rob stayed at camp tending the horses tonight.

A perfect day, very light breeze hi about 60 a few clouds around. Lo was 27

Thursday, October 7, 2004

Another day of riding loops through Pitchfork picking up strays. Some folks headed up T Bar Ridge, some went up towards Steve and Hay tanks, some went out towards Dead Horse Corral. I went straight up T Bar Valley to Doubtful tank. All the way out Dakota was being a brat, wanting to go with everyone else. He spun a few times, bucked a few times and just generally had a temper tantrum. Every time he acted up I set him in a jog so we got to the tank in good time. There I found six pairs and a bull and started them back towards the gate. Once we got the cattle Dakota was as perfect as a horse could be, just a pleasure to be with. We got the cattle through the gate about 2pm and as soon as we did here came five more pairs down the hill behind us. We rode around them and turned them to the gate and within minutes I shut the gate and decided I had gotten my cattle in. I tied Dakota to the horse trailer, got a chair and a book and kicked back for a couple hours before the other riders came in. Only two more pairs were found, I guess we have done a dang good job of cleaning that pasture out.

The flushing worked on Chico, his eye is all fine now.

Nate stayed at camp tonight but Rob decided to head back to the H.Q. with the rest of us. He later found our ranch bear asleep in his bed wearing his boots. He got a good scare out of it and took it with great humor.

Hi 60 lo 28 sunny very little wind.

Friday, October 8, 2004

A lot of miles were ridden today. We left camp about 10am and headed south riding in one group till we got up on T Bar Ridge and through Twin Tanks gate where we split. There were a few head of cattle scattered around there so Lyndsey and a crew worked them up and through the gate then rode out along the east side of T Bar Canyon then down the rough trail to Snow lake and on out to the beach. It was a big loop and found no cattle, which was a good thing.

My crew left the gate and rode south across Loco Flats then up and over Loco Mountain to Big Loco tank. There we found Agnes and her calf as well as another pair. We pushed them down Loco Canyon towards the Gates of Hell. About half way there we came across five more pairs, which we turned around and headed them all along to the gate going in to Snow trap. There we met Lindsey's crew and headed the long ride home. We rode a trail I hadn’t been on in years rimming along Snow canyon all the way to Little Fence Spring. Just past the spring we found a cow and an ‘03 heifer. They had been there since July I figure. How many times had we ridden that area and missed them I couldn’t count. A small crew detached themselves and put them through the Silver gate while the rest of us headed home.

Debbie didn’t ride with us today, she had some stomach pains in the morning. When we got back Leasha informed us that Nate had driven her to town where she was met by an ambulance. The EMT’s concurred with Debbie self diagnosis that it was appendicitis. She was then flown to UNM hospital in Albq. and promptly had her now ruptured appendix removed. Dave left the ranch about 6pm in his rental car and raced to the hospital meeting her there. All news coming in is good.

It was just the kinda crew we needed this week, a dang good one. Couldn’t have had a better bunch of self-sufficient folks along.

Hi 59 lo 24

Saturday, October 9, 2004

The usual Saturday cabin cleaning this morning then I headed out to work the fence around the North and south traps. Next week we start to put cattle in them and they really needed some work. The north trap fence was in pretty good shape; it took less than two hours to tighten that up. But the south trap fence is probably the worst and oldest fence on the place. I spent four hours working less than a mile of it.

Hi 55 cloudy lo 26

Sunday, October 10, 2004

After hauling some water I headed back out to the south trap fence and spent the next six hours patching it up. I finally wore out and headed home having it about 90% tight, I just hope that the cattle don’t find the weak spots this week before I get a chance to get back on it. Lyndsey called and reported that she had seen Debbie at the hotel and she seemed to be ok other than tired and a bit sore. Our wishes of a fast recovery go out to her.