The newest handsome male figure around our house

This young guy is a Partridge Rock. I wasn't shopping for a rooster when June and I went to pick up her young Easter chickens, but he was too pretty to pass up.
When I think of the word "rooster" in the dictionary, this is what I imagine the picture should look like.
Mr. Rooster does his reproductive chores; however, he does not crow (yet?) and he has a cough!

Cash- giving to the bit

As I've mentioned (and maybe whined a little about) recently, Cash tips his nose upward when I put any pressure on his mouth. He also ignores and protests against lateral flexing requests. Both of these are a major problem that must be overcome before I can proceed with others goals on him. Tipping the nose up is dangerous and inconvenient not only in the roping setting, but also on the trail when I need Cash to slow down in certain areas, and especially if I need to stop or slow him quickly.

So, what I've been doing is starting with lateral flexion on each side, on the ground, in the saddle, and everything in between.

Two of my young ones- together

Last week, after I was so frustrated about how my horses performed at roping practice, we took the horses over to the covered barn the next Thursday just to ride around. I rode Tex first, then gave him up to Josh and my daughter, and I hopped bareback onto Cash with just a snaffle bit bridle. More on Cash later... This story is about my daughter and her favorite horse- Tex.
She rode with me for a while, ride with her Daddy, came and rose bareback with me, and then got enough courage up to ride all by herself, without us leading the horse! This was her first time to steer a horse by herself. I stayed on Cash and helped direct Tex away from the side a couple times, but he performed quite well for her. It looks like Tex may end up being her horse after all. :)
TM

Headset of roping horses

Two weeks ago, Josh rode Cash in a round robin and I was able to snap some photos.
Cash has significantly improved in the box- I have no complaints there. But his headset while in the roping pen- wow. That's a bit of a problem. Now, I've seen worse, but that doesn't lessen the expectations I have for my two horses, who I know naturally like to keep their heads low.
This is what I got in the pictures. (Note that Josh did insist on having the tie-down on him while roping in the competition.)
1. Good- I'll take it. Not too bad.

B.E.E.R. Bread

Beer bread- a wonderful combination of self-rising flour, beer, sugar, a sifter, and about 40 minutes at 350 degrees. I don't remember if I've ever made this or not, but it's a favorite of ours made by our friend Tanis. She makes everything with beer bread- cobblers, muffins, and of course just the bread itself.
It's heavenly, it has approximately four ingredients that are usually on hand, and it takes about 5 minutes to prepare.
And a note from experience- it tastes great with Jambalaya. TM

Have Cash, Will Rope

As I've mentioned, Josh's roping horse, Jethro, is lame right now due to what is believed to be heel pain, so Josh has been roping off my new horse, Cash, as well as heeling a little on Tex. A couple weeks ago practice turned into a round robin, and Josh rode Cash for the whole night.
Here are some examples of where this horse is now, and where we must go in the future.

Picture 1a: A little too far behind the steer,
1b: Wearing a tie-down.

Roping horses= useless.

Tonight's roping practice was, well, disappointing to me. I caught about 3 out of 20 steers that I chased down the pen on Cash. The thing that's so frustrating is that I don't know what I'm doing wrong. If I could figure out what I'm doing wrong, I could fix it.

Then, everyone (in true team roper form) started pitching in with their unsolicited advice. "Get your elbow down." "Put a tie-down on that horse." "Looks like your horse's teeth need floating." And so on. I appreciate all the help I can get. The elbow thing was true- I was doing that wrong, and when I started getting it right, I was catching. The teeth floating thing may be true- I'll have to check on that. The tie down thing just plain annoys me though. A tie down doesn't solve the main issue- a horse that tosses his head UP instead of tucking it DOWN when I pull back on the reins. It's my one complaint about Cash, and the one thing I think could take him from "good" to "great" if he could just learn it.

My roping skills are a struggle mostly because I'm having trouble staying motivated. I started out going to team roping practice just to have a specific, kid-free, riding time on Wednesday nights last year. Then, when I began to ranch rodeo a little more, I realized that to do well at it, I needed to be able to rope. This year, my work schedule has me booked up for every ranch rodeo for the first 5 months of the year. I guess that's good in a way, because it gives me more time to practice. But, it's bad in a way too, because I'm lacking the motivation of actually seeing and doing the ranch rodeos.

On another note..
Josh has been heeling on Tex for the last two weeks because Jethro is lame. This means he's riding in the Jr. Cowhorse bit with a curb chain, neck reining, and roping off him. I just try not to watch. I'm proud that Tex is tracking the cows nicely. But, I'm just not agreeing with the roughness in the hands that Josh is using. It looks to me like horsemanship gets sacrificed when there's a rope involved. Tonight, those suspects were confirmed. At the end of the night, I rode Tex on the heading side for a few runs, and he was antsy in the box! I was shocked! Tex has NEVER been a prancy, jumpy, or rearing horse, and here he was, pawing, getting light on his front end, and acting an idiot- jumping every time a cow moved in the chute and not responding to my cues.

Last week was a round robin competition, so Josh rode Cash and I rode around on Jethro. When I asked him to go to the heel side, or to push cows up, or to sidepass to the left, he threw a major hissyfit. I have no patience for that horse. He's what I categorize as a typical team roping horse. High headed, high strung, and just a butthead. 

I've just about decided that many of the good roping horses out there are about as useless as a barrel racing horse. They're always looking for a tie down, don't know how to do any lead but their left lead, and only want to run one routine in the roping pen and then be done.


So, that's it. No more sacrificing horsemanship for the sake of roping on my little grulla horse. I will rope off him ONLY when he's calm in the box, collected, and happy.

What have you been doing today?

Today I:
*Tried to sleep in.
*Heated up yesterday's breakfast for myself and the kids. Josh finally joined us at around 9:30.
-Fed and caught my two horses.
-Helped the neighbors move some calves on Tex.
-Went to a crawfish boil for a few minutes at my in-laws house.
-Went with the horses & the family to cowboy church in Zachary.
-Rode Cash there.
-Played with the kids.
-Went back to our house to unload & feed the animals.
-Went back to the in-laws' for a part two of the crawfish boil.
-Got home & put the kids to bed.
-Unloaded & reloaded the dishwasher
-Cut up my flat of strawberries from my dad and put them in the dehydrator
-Swept the kitchen
-Finally got in bed.
I am pooped! So WHEN exactly do people have time to watch TV?

First time working cows in the pasture

We just finished hping some neighbors gather some calves from the pasture. At first Josh rode out on Tex because I had to stay with the kids. But, that group of cows jumped a fence and were not able to be caught.
Long story short, the guys worked a few cows in the pen, and then decided to do another group of calves, just as I had hopped onto Tex to just ride around. 5 of us rode out onto the grassy, hilly pasture in this breezy, sunny day on horseback.
We loped out to catch up to the group, and at first I thought it was going to be a mistake to ride Tex. he was hyped up and nervous. I got a little firmer with him for a while. The calves would get close to the pen and then bolt- again and again, and once they split into two groups. We kept having to walk the calves slowly toward the pen, and then lope back out to go get them.
By about the third time we loped back out, Tex realized this was WORK, not play, and he tried to pull the lazy card on me. :) Well I know that trick too well, and didn't put up with it.
About 40 minutes worth was all it took for him to get worn out and realize that he didn't want to run anymore.
At one point I did have to run down a calf and turn him. Tex did fine, but I wasn't sure of my ability to do it. Once we got going, I realized he was going to be fine and I made him speed up an turn the calf.
It was a wonderful experience- one I've been waiting for for three years now. I am soooo proud of Tex and how great he did- how much he neck reined, how he settled down, and how he chased down that one calf. I stinking love my horse. :)

Note to self- adjust the stirrups up after Josh rides my horse before going out to work calves.