Pictures from the Rodeo

Me and Uncle Matt went to the rodeo on Saturday. It was awesome! I liked all the events, especially the roping and bucking horse events.

Roanie

This is Roanie, Uncle Matt's horse. He's really fun to ride, and he's an incredibly solid, kind horse. I ride him bareback and we go exploring.

And have you noticed how much he looks like Susie? Wow!

Welding

I learned to weld today with Uncle Matt. We're making Dave and Nancy a wine rack- we went to the fair with them the other day, and had a lot of fun. Nancy has a bum colt (orphan foal), and I want to go over and play with him.


I'm not that great at welding, but I'm learning. Here are a couple pictures:






Uncle Matt said all the people who weld up here wear their hats backwards, but I only do it because it makes me feel like I should be on Pokemon or something.

4H fair, shooting, and a sore back.

So, today we're heading to town to go to a 4H fair. Apparently, they will have an animal display of bunnies, pigs, cows, and everything else. I'm bringing my camera most likely. It's gonna be fun!


Uncle Matt taught me to shoot the other day. I forget what kind of gun we were shooting, but I think it was a rifle of some sort. I'm not THAT great of a shot, but I'm getting better. My biggest issue with the gun is the noise-it hurts my ears a lot.



I went riding at Tasha and Sam's on Tuesday. We were riding all over Chris and Christy's ranch trying to find 2 cows. (Do you know how hard that is?!) It was hard riding, lots of hills and trees, and we had to check all the cows we saw to see if they were Chris's. My back is so sore from riding- I think the western saddle is built so differently that it works different muscles. I have been taking breaks from riding, and just taking it slow in general.

Interesting Facts

Stuart and Annie's ranch (the 59 Ranch) is roughly 14,000 acres, and 22 sections of land. That's like owning almost a whole township back east.

It takes about 50 acres of land for a cow to survive out here.

Before Stuart had the 59 Ranch, it was used mostly for sheep.

Stuart has about 300 head of cattle, 8 of them are bulls.

He has 15 horses, and he raises his own horses to work the cattle.

He does about 85% of the work with the cattle on horseback.

There are hardly any trees on his 14,000 acres- as you can see from the pictures.

Stuart does all his own vet work, other than the most serious injuries. It just isn't practical to have to wait 2+ hours for the vet to come out.



Chris Dutton's ranch (where I am going today) is 22,000 acres, and has lots of trees. The land is very rugged, and about 22 miles away from the 59 Ranch.

He has less cattle on his ranch, but he is able to grow more hay on his ranch.

He has about the same number of horses as Stuart does.

His ranch also has Elk, Whitetail Deer, Turkeys and Peasants.

7/14/09

Today I'm heading to Chris and Christy's house to work on some fencing and riding. Tasha and Sam are going to teach me to barrel race...hopefully, I'll be able to ride in the rodeo in a few weeks.


I'll try to put up some pictures tonight.

What I did Today...

Absolutely nothing.



Well, I did hang up some laundry and do some dishes, but otherwise I just took a shower and hung out on the couch watching tv and knitting.




Mac hung out with me today, and decided that it is way too hot outside for dogs.