Horses and an Update

22 Jul posted by

Yesterday was a great day!

It started with some fabulous entertainment from Zach and Kesley who argued about how best to build a bigger round-pen. In the end it got done, with lots of laughing, some zinger one-liners and smart ass comments from the resident smart ass #1 (zach) and smart ass #2 (Kelsey). At least that is how I like to refer to them.

Then we sorted off some mares, and put them out to new pastures- and we pulled in the studs, one by one. Zero, my old high school and college rodeo horse also got put out to his summer pasture, where he’s turned out with two grade mares (both have babies), 15 yearlings, and Elvis, who managed to cut half his foot off.

When we went to get Tom (from his pasture which on the bottom side of the pasture in which Zero is now living), we found Zero had wandered all the way to the other side of the pasture, and was very lonely. So I waited with him and the trailer, while Zach went, on the four wheeler to catch Tom. Once Tom was caught, I left, and Zero followed me. So I opened up the back of the trailer, and he (with no halter or anything) loaded right up. I figured I’d take him back to the road side of the pasture to join up with all the other horses.

Streakin Iron, aka, Sonora Nora, is also in now, as she’s healed enough to probably breed back. So I brought her along in the event that she cycles this week, like she should, so she can be bred to Tom. If she doesn’t cycle, well then she’s close so I can leg her up and start riding her again until the spring of 2010 when I’ll turn her out with a stud to let her get bred for a 2011 baby.

Today I’ll be giving The Nukie (WDX Nukem) a bath, get his mane all combed out and braided up and we’ll get him started learning the barrel pattern. Thank you to Wayne Ducheneaux for allowing me to ride the beautiful beast. Kelsey will be starting our stud Banjo on the barrels, and Zach is going to put Chachi on cattle.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have horses to ride!

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Filed Under: horse training, horses, ranching

DX Jurassic Classic

16 Jul posted by

Meet my newest project (ok, so there’s a lot of projects here but this one is special), Dx Jurassic Classic, or Dino as we call him. He is a half brother (by a different daddy) to my barrel horse, and favorite gelding of all time, Gump. Can you see the resemblance?

Yesterday he had his first ride, with me aboard! It was my first time to make a first ride on a horse with only a halter. I have it on film, but it’s not off the camera yet, so when I get it off I’ll share it. You can hear Zach coaching me through it. I may have Zach ride him today though, as I want to make sure that I did everything right and that I’m not feeling any tension in him (I felt none). He’d really rather stand around than move out! My kinda horse. If I had to guess I’d say he’s gonna be able to run a hole in the wind and he’ll be a stopping machine. I have priced him, so I guess if I can get what I want for him I’ll sell him. Otherwise, I would like to keep him and futurity him as a 5 year old, and make him a rodeo horse like Gump is becoming!

Tonight we will go to Dupree and run. From there we will head to Rapid City for the Barrel Bash. Four runs will definitely help my horse, and to make it even more helpful- they’ll all be on a standard pattern! Running in Rapid will be just like running in Dupree where we have run all summer! I cannot express to y’all how excited I am about getting to make four runs in four days!

I probably won’t have internet access for the weekend, but rest assured, that I will post Dino’s first ride video, and the video from the barrel races. Also, yesterday, Ty had his first outside ride on his pony Lil’ Banjo, so I plan to make him a movie of it for posterity’s sake!

Happy trails!



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Filed Under: barrel racing, cowgirls, horses, ranching

Three

13 Jul posted by

They say bad things happen in threes. I surely hope all the bad is gone from my life for a while.

First: the chicken massacre from a couple weeks ago.
Second: the death of my uncle.
Third: the beautiful Nora (my pretty gray mare that all of you adore- almost as much me!) lost her foal. We have no idea what happened. When I returned from the funeral at 1am Wednesday the plan was to go check her on Thursday. I was unable to get out there that day, so Friday morning, Zach and I headed out to find her. And what we found was not what we planned on finding. She was a bloody mess and her back end was all torn up. Literally ripped up and shredded. I have photos for those that want to see them. You can send me an email if you’d like and I’ll share them with you. There was no baby anywhere to be seen. Her bag was swollen. In a 900+ acre pasture there’s no way we’d ever find the baby. Honestly, being torn up like she is, we wonder if there isn’t a mountain lion making its home in that pasture. How else would you explain all that? Anyway, I think I’m done crying about it. The good part is that I can ride her. And even if she doesn’t heal up enough to breed back this year, I can run her all winter, and get her back on a schedule with the other horses so she’ll foal the first of June like the rest of them. I wanted to have photos of a pretty colt to share with you, and instead I got nothing. Bummer.



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Filed Under: foals, horses, life, ranching

Cowgirl TV Intro Movie

12 Jul posted by

I’ll be reporting for CowgirlTv.com and so I was asked to do an introduction video to let the viewers know a little bit more about me. I had so much fun making this. I hope y’all have fun watching!


Filed Under: cowgirls, life, ranching

Bad, Blogger! Bad!

9 Jul posted by

There has just been so much going on lately. I’m sure that no one is even reading this by now since I’ve been sporadic at best. I’m going to try to get caught up on the goings on around here in this post, and then I will hopefully be back to posting every day as per my usual routine.

A week ago we had a prairie fire in one of our north pastures. I will post photos soon as I get them off my camera.

Yesterday we had a funeral for my Uncle Larry, in Manhattan, KS. That was interesting. His wife and kids want nothing to do with the family and his 350lb daughter threatened my 105 lb mother with bodily harm. I’m sure that my mother is mean and evil and needed be threatened (why would you do that anyway, really). His family didn’t care that he had died. They asked no questions. And they were less than cooperative with his brothers and sisters. Thankfully, they left all the planning up to Larry’s brothers and sisters.

Some of Larry’s family didn’t come, because they were afraid that his daughter and ex-wife of 36 years might cause a scene. They didn’t but regardless. I did get to see some family and they all got to meet my favorite cowboy, Zach.

The silver lining in this is that I got to get in touch with some family history. We had the funeral at a church that was started and built by the Zeller/Avers family back in 1882. Construction on the current church building was finally finished in 1899. It’s a beautiful stone building complete with a bell tower. The pulpit was built by my great great grandfather Zeller and is still in the church.

Somehow yesterday evening on our way home, we either picked up another cat, or one of the wild mama cat’s babies found her way to the engine block of the ranch pickup. The kitten was yowling around in there this morning. I really thought it was one of my mama cat’s babies, but not so much.

Today we’ll head to Dupree, SD to a barrel race.

Nora has still not had her baby last I checked her. We moved the bulls out of that pasture on Monday and there was still NO baby! But, it stormed last night, and so that’s a good time for a mare to have her baby! If I have time today I will check on her. Shuttle’s baby isn’t due until August, and we still have two mare in addition to my two that are still to colt.

I started a Facebook page last week for Ducheneaux Quarter Horses. If you’re on Facebook and want to follow us, click on the link and do it!

Have a happy Thursday folks!

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Filed Under: family, horses, ranching

Branding Video

4 Jul posted by

As promised, and better late than never, here are some videos from a neighbor’s branding which took place the day after ours. This was Dozer’s first time to rope and drag calves to the fire and he did great! There are probably 10 clips of this same sort of thing- with Zach and Dozer, but I figured y’all would be bored out of your minds if I showed you too many! I am in the video too- running around in a dark teal colored shirt giving shots. Enjoy!




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Filed Under: horse training, horses, ranching

Branding Weekend

24 Jun posted by

I’m so sorry I’ve been absent. I’ve been busy. I’ve had horses to ride, people to entertain, calves to brand, cattle to move. Saturday we branded our herd; Sunday we helped a neighbor. Monday we moved our pairs to fresh pasture. Today we had to sort horses, and are still cleaning up and playing catch up from the weekend. But I have photos! All the branding photos, that were taken by Colette, Zach’s sister are here.

I singled some of my favorite photos out, so you, dear reader, don’t have to sort through all 300 odd pictures (if you’d rather not). I also have video from both the Saturday and Sunday brandings. You’ll get to see Zach rope and drag some calves to the branding fire on a horse we raised, that we call Dozer.

Zach and his kids, Ty, and Kelsey.

Me and my mom- who obviously couldn’t participate since she just had hand surgery.

My dad and me.

The ear tags that Kelsey and I made.

Me looking like I need a break- and a diet, both.
Kelsey branding a calf and me telling Tony that I need to tag her left ear.

Hot irons.

Zach and Myself

Zach’s little boy- Ty.


My cute, one-eyed papillon dog, Higgins.

The ranch horse brand- it’s straight I promise. This is Gump’s right hip for those of you wondering.

My favorite, punchy bridle.

At the end of a long day, Zach’s lap is pretty comfy. And this is the photo his sister snapped of me relaxing on him.

Me cleaning calf nuts- also known as dessert.


I hope you enjoyed this virtual trip through branding! I’ll post video at some point this week!

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Filed Under: cowgirls, family, life, ranching

Pretty Weather

18 Jun posted by

The weather the last few days has just been really really amazing. It honestly doesn’t get much better. Monday I became an official South Dakotan. I got my SD Driver’s License. Tuesday night my folks got here. They brought me my piano (that belonged to my grandmother; it is the piano that my mom grew up playing). They also brought other stuff that was left in Texas. Yesterday my dad and Zach worked on building a hen house together- it lacks some hinges (which we’ll pick up in town today) and it’s finished. After they got to a place where they could go no further on the hen house, Kelsey and I took them out to look at the mares. We only saw Banjo and Chachi’s herds. Nuke was MIA and we didn’t have time to look for the ever elusive Tom. But we did get to stop in and see Dolce. She is so big and so pretty. Here’s some photos from that adventure.





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Filed Under: horses, ranching

So I’m AWOL

16 Jun posted by

I know, I know, I’ve been A.W.O.L.

We had high school rodeos this weekend; those did not go well. And we’ve got several colts started under saddle. And we’re getting ready for our branding. These are some photos from last year’s branding. Yes, I’m too tired to write much- so photos will have to suffice. All photos are compliments of Zach’s eldest sister. Wish I could claim them. They’re good.

There are calves:

There are naps:

Cute Kids (The Ty and Kelsey):

Crazy Kids:

Vaccinations to be mixed:

Irons to heat:

Fingernails to be broken:

Calves to be worked:


And brands to be placed:

And when it’s all said and done, there are calf fries to eat, beer to drink (well that’s done during too) and the next day, there’s rest to be had!



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Filed Under: photography, ranching

Some Happy News

9 Jun posted by

We spent the weekend in Winner, SD at the SDHSRA River Region Rodeo for the NHSRA. It was a rainy, cold, icky weekend, but the the good news is that a little girl named Kelsey made a good run on day one- and that included turning the prettiest second barrel to date. She was smiling so big when she finished. She didn’t win a check, but placed in the top 25. Her smile was worth it all. Day two was a teeny bit warmer, but that didn’t bode well. We ended up with a no-time for a broken pattern. I will post the video of run number on, later today.

Yesterday was sunny and gorgeous. Shuttle and I moved some straggling pairs out of one pasture, so we could move the horses around and put the studs out. I know, some of you are thinking, you just now put your studs out? Yes, we did. There are still blizzards in April here, and no one is excited about having foals born during a blizzard. At least no one on this place is.

We have two new equine babies- a pretty black filly and a dun (I haven’t been close enough to sex it yet). I have three more babies to photograph, so I’ll try to get that done this week too- since babies make everyone smile and after last week we can certainly use some of that! The chickens are getting really big and are ready to be moved outside- so daddy, get here soon, so you and Zach can build them a coop!

In other good news, I’m so excited and honored to announce that I will be doing some writing for Haute Cowgirl. If you haven’t been over to visit and meet Danielle, Holly, Casey and Kadi, you totally should. You can learn all you need to learn about western fashion and beauty over there. It will be such a privelege to be involved with such a great site and so many awesome cowgirls. What great company I’ll be in! Danielle also invited me to provide coverage of events for another project of hers, Cowgirl Tv.

It is raining today- which may mean it’s a good day to clean out this guest bedroom, and paint the walls. I need to get it ready for my parents when they come up for branding. Rain means it might be a good day to get finish writing for Haute Cowgirl. Rain means I could do some laundry. I think it’s not supposed to rain for the entire day, but it is for the time being. At lesat I don’t have to water my garden or my flower beds- though some warm air would really help my tomato plants and my hyacinth vines grow a lot faster. These 40 degree nights aren’t really helping! I guess they’re helping the mosquitos though, since my head has about 8 bites on it, and my neck has a few. Irritating.

Happy Tuesday, y’all.


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Filed Under: barrel racing, cowgirls, life, ranching
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