Every spring, my dad has a batch of cows he herds up to the national forest.
The farm, the place where I grew up, is only about one or two miles away from the forest. There are surrounding pastures and fields, and then beautiful mountains where the cows are set loose to feed for the summer.
I also have a little girl that LOVES (if there was something bigger than caps, I would use that) horses. Last year she bought a cute little Haflinger named Henry, and we decided she was old enough to go on the annual cattle drive. My dad’s farm is small, and this event usually ends up having more horses than cattle, but it’s such a fun tradition!
I was making plans with my dad, when last minute, most of his usual help developed other plans for the weekend. That left us with two choices….cancel or find more help.
So I volunteered my in-laws. Both sides of the family have horses, but my husband’s side hasn’t used their horses for herding cows. So while my dad may have been thinking, “Oh dear”, he was a sport and let us all come along.
He ended up with Dave’s parents, my family, and a nephew. My husband is the one that came in tennis shoes :). We make quite a crew, don’t we?
{the new help}
My little girl on Henry…..
and this was my ride, a quarter horse we call Bucky.
He has some fancy, registered Quarter Horse name, but such formalities stop being important in Wyoming.
My nephew on his dude horse, holding the paint my dad rides.
I haven’t done this in so many years! I was pretty excited, and a little nervous for my girl. She hasn’t ridden much outside of the corral, so this was a whole new world. You never know what could happen when horses get by other horses they aren’t used to, in an environment where there’s a little running and a lot of excitement.
I wish I could have somehow taken pictures while we were riding, but it was impossible. I did manage to get a few photos off the back of my horse….while we were standing still. We were waiting for a batch of calves to come over the hill.
Sorry honey, I’m on the back of a moving animal with an expensive camera. This shot is still going on the blog. You are handsome even when you are blinking. Besides, your eyes get this squinty when you smile too, so it’s all good.
I must say, for being a random batch of cow hands, we did a pretty good job. No one even got bucked off!
We gathered three batches of cows, and then it was time to sort and count the ones that needed to go up to the forest.
The cows don’t look at all concerned, do they? Concerned or completely annoyed.
This is my cowboy dad – the best dad a girl could have. He’s readying the smaller corral for the forest cows.
My little girl waits patiently with trusty Levi, my dad’s right hand man.
My dad says Levi hears him getting up in the morning at the house, and will have the milk cows rounded up for him before he gets to the barn.
My nephew, posing in perfect cowboy stance. He may be tall, but he’s still young, ladies.
And the action begins!
My girl decided it might be best to stay out of the way. She gets her smarts from me.
It’s much more fun watching the pretend cowboys perform their manly duties and snap pictures. I did miss a shot when my cousin ( whom I forgot to mention…he’s the real help) wrestled an unruly cow back into shape.
My dad’s horse watched it all with patience and a little curiosity.
When the cows were counted and sorted, we took them up to the forest line and set them loose.
It was a completely satisfying day.
I’m guessing this one will be asking to go next year too.
I will be glad to go with her.
Happy Friday!
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