This Weekend in Armstrong County, SD…

Fall is my favorite time of year. Have I mentioned that?

If not, now you know. I love all the fun that comes with fall, and after the summer we’ve had I’m glad for the cooler temperatures.

We gathered our herd on Saturday so we could pre-condition our calves. For those of you who I lost at “pre-conditioning”, basically it’s a fancy way to say we are getting them ready to sell. We give them a booster to a shot they get in the spring as well as another shot to keep them disease free. We also “pour” them with an anti-parasitic or de-wormer if you will.

It’s always a fun day because the neighbors come over and we all help. I rode Dino on the gather, and was instructed to make the big loop- which is essentially going all the way around the pasture until you have everything gathered up or you run into someone else, who has gathered up what is on the edges. Dino did really good until we got off by ourselves and then he needed some help focusing on me as his leader instead of being worried that there were no other horses in sight. It all worked out and as usual I am happy with him and the progress we’re making.

I didn’t take any photos that morning while we gathered, but I did take some when we got back to the corrals.

I love this one of Cowboy Jim!

And this one of Oreo:

Cowboy Jim took this one of me on Dino:

Sunday we went to help Cowboy Jim and his wife Sharon. Sharon is technically the Cowboy’s cousin, but the kids refer to her as Aunt Sharon. She and Jim are good folks. I didn’t pack my big camera, but I did take my iPhone. If I’d have known we were going to have as many hands riding that hugemongous pasture I might have packed my big camera. Oh well!

The morning started out a tad sticky but there were clouds. Clouds that looked like they carried rain.

I rode Gumpy this morning.

He still has the best ears evah!

Those clouds did have rain in them. Quite a welcome site in our drought stricken world. We’ve had no measurable rain since June.

If you look really close at the horizon in the above photo you can see a trail of yearling heifers walking up the ridge.

It was dusty:

But the clouds provided nice cover and cooled down the sun and the sticky!

You can see more rain! There was even thunder and lightning!

We are getting to the home-stretch!

And just as we got them in, it let loose! Loose enough to knock down all the dust, and have it stay dust-free in the corrals all afternoon!

Pretty ponies!

And I had to sneak in a shot of Cowboy Jim giving this calf a vaccination that gets squirted in the nose. It’s to keep them from getting pneumonia.

I also snuck one of my cowboy:

Getting rained on and having cow poop on my pants was worth it for the fun of the weekend. What did you do this weekend?

Happy Trails!