The old Dan Seals song came to my mind as we zoomed across the Nebraska prairie and made our way through Wyoming last week, “Headin’ west…another town, another place. Headin’ west…with the sunshine on my face.” It always feels good to be on the road with a couple days of vacation ahead of you and the anticipation of seeing family or friends for a weekend. We went to Idaho to visit my parents, only to stay for a few days, but it was well worth the drive.
One of my favorite phrases to hear from my dad came the next morning as we gathered around the breakfast table, “Well, we’ve got some cattle work to do today.” It could have been twenty years ago hearing him say that, the surge of delight still felt the same as when I was a kid. Getting to spend time with horses, working together to accomplish a task, and enjoying a day with family are all on the top of my list of favorite things to do. So I was excited.
After breakfast, my sister took us down to the barn and we chose horses, saddled, and headed out. She let me ride her buckskin filly, Chickory, whom I am always happy with. Chickory is three and a half, and handles better than my ten year old mare. Karmen rode her big gelding Challis, we saddled up Red for Dad, and Cowboy Dad chose trusty old Possum.
We split up to gather the herd of cattle, which was spread out across a dormant alfalfa field. The calves were big and husky and playful, not having been weaned yet, and they wanted to goof around instead of gather up and drive. Banjo the dog had come along, and he was more like a magnet for the calves than a driving force. They followed him and faced him off and then went galloping off to their mothers. Moving the cattle was an easy job, because the cows already knew they were going to better pastures, and were very excited to be on their way. When they got through the open gate, they went bursting through as fast as they could gallop, bucking and stirring up dust as they went. We basically just followed along and closed the gate after them.
One of the best things about Idaho visits is the beautiful scenery you can capture on camera. I always return with a memory card full of horse images, it seems. So I’ll share a few with you here, and I’m sure you’ll see many more in my future posts.
Here is Karmen riding her AQHA gelding Challis:
This is Chickory, the three year old filly I was riding:
Here we are following the herd to their new pasture:
Happy cows in a good pasture, we closed up the gate and rode home. Karmen on the left riding Challis, my husband on Possum, and my dad riding his best horse Red.
Riding home after the cattle drive, my dad let our daughter ride his horse while he drove the tractor:
