Month: August 2011

Magic and I went on a cattle drive today. Well, it was short, we went about a half a mile, but it was a cattle drive! James Brady, who rents my pasture, rode up on his four wheeler while I was waiting for Magic to finish eating. He told me this is the morning we are moving the cows. I told him if he would wait until I saddled up, I would help. He really did need some help. His girls, Callie and Cammie, were stationed at the turnoffs along the road where the cows could take a wrong turn. He was going to open the gate and toll the cows down the road. His cows do not toll very good. I thought it would be helpful if Magic and I brought up the rear. I bit off more than I should have but Magic is a good horse and I trust him not to loose his cool. He has never been on a cattle drive. He has never been on a gravel road. He has never met a car on a gravel road. He was familiar with the cows which was helpful when the new calf decided the best place to be was under Magic’s belly. Topsie and York came with us and, surprisingly, they were helpful. The cows are pretty tame and do not move off very good. I kept on wanting Magic to reach out and bit one so they would show some respect! York and Topsie would move the cows on in these situations and refrained from the temptation to continue the chase once they started moving away. I know Magic was proud of himself walking down the new strange road behind the cows. But he thought I must have lost my mind when they left the road and I asked him to follow and head them off. There is not much level ground in this country and there’s lots of rocks. Along the road, the rocks that are too big (like soccer ball size) are pushed off the lower side. So I’m asking Magic to step off the road down about 3 feet onto what looks like a pile of jagged soccer balls. He did it but I expect that is when he started thinking that what I say might ought to be taken with a pinch of salt. But Cammie was behind me and just stepped past Magic and pushed the cows back up on the road. A spooky, ill tempered horse would have been a problem in that situation but Magic just slowed down. He did get nervous. We did OK. The cows got where they needed to be. We met the cars on the way home. Just as we got to the driveway, a big four-wheeler came around the curve. I’d jumped off and gestured for the four-wheeler to stop. The driver, a bearded dude in a hard hat (like me), did stop. I was in the driveway by then. That’s when we all noticed there was a great big dog curled up in the front basked on the four-wheeler. About that time York smelled the dog’s tail, then bit it. York is a nice dog but that was just too much temptation. The guy figured out that this situation was going to get bad fast unless he got going, which he did. It must have been a really nice big dog not to have piled out of the basket and whip those rude local dogs. I was happy not to have to choose between holding Magic or breaking up a dog fight. We got back to the barn with no injury to body or mind. It was not too hot but I was sweating a lot. Must have been an exciting ride. It was fun.

Magic and I rode out through the Ash Pasture, up to the spring, down the deer hunter’s road, across Pinnacle Mountain Road, through the Divide pasture and back to the barn. He was forward moving and track-able. It was a good ride. There was a wind when we rode this morning. It got up to 107 this afternoon.