herd dynamics

some of the studs from the sheldon-hart refuge gatherin'

there are those who say "the wild horses are ruinin' the grasslands, usin' up water, causin' erosion".  (never mind that ranchers are leased this land as well and have their cattle herds there to graze...).   the government solution?  gather 'em up, of course!  pay no mind to what's right or wrong.  let's rip families apart.  let's gather 'em at the peak of  foalin' season, and see how many survive...

see that lil paint fella, mostly white?  huge gash on his neck...

the "lead mare", a gorgeous palomino.  one snort from her & the whole herd would turn..

in the wild, there's what's called a "bachelor band".
these are the "boys" who are forced from their herd, they band together, safety in numbers.  there's a low man on the totem pole and typically an elder.  they (the powers that be, USF&W in this case, tossed 'em in together with studs who had their own herds, bachelors, youngsters over 6 months of age.  a cruel thing to do...  much fightin' commences, especially fer those who've lost their herds ~ some of which are only a stone's throw away....

mares & their offspring.  again from different herds, some foals as young as 3 weeks (the gatherin' was 2 weeks prior to these pic's), some heavy with foal, some who've lost theirs...

 the mares are most apprehensive and doin' their best to protect their young.  ripped from their homelands, some foals trampled or "lost", thrown together with "strangers",  loaded onto trailers and driven all night from nevada to los lunas, new mexico.  can ya imagine the fear they must've felt?

a most beautiful loud overo mare (shame the pic's i took of her a month later didn't turn out,  her color returned!)
the youngster by her side?  not hers, an "orphan" from the round up at 2wks, he resides on my place now.

the buttermilk buckskin studs (2 of 'em in fact) were testy fella's at best, approximately 6yrs of age.   their destiny?  was told that a general in mexico had adopted 'em.... fer breedin' purposes.  no way to tell fer sure where any of the 303 horses wound up (ok, except fer the 5 that somehow fell my way) as there's no freeze brandin' done by the USF&W department.

this gorgeous fella?  contankerous fer certain,  at the age of 12 i imagine his herd was taken from him & all the other studs in which he was forced to "live" with were jest seen as competition to get 'em back.   he was put down after a week, so the story goes....was causin' too many troubles :(

aint he a looker?  sure caught my fancy!

one thing that's been proven over & over is that "thinnin' out the herds" is not an effective population control.   the BLM along with USF&W have their own ideas.  many of 'em cruel, most unknown.  folks aint allowed to be in the vicinity of these round-ups, especially with a camera in tow.  why the secrets?  it's already known that they run 'em over rough terrain fer many miles (up to 30 in a day) in the heat with helicopters.  they dump water on 'em from overhead to keep 'em from overheatin' too much.     they've no understandin' that those who are left behind will go forward and breed another generation.  why?  extra forage and water.  part of the survival instinct.  these great Mustangs have been at it fer generations.  when dna testin' is done on 'em, one finds many breeds involved.  the beloved Quarter Horse has it's roots in their blood lines.  yet they are looked upon as "trash" amongst the lands by many.

jealousy, perhaps?  after all, nature takes care of itself.  these horses have better bones, feet, athleticism than most of yer "papered" horses.  they could not survive otherwise....

once gathered, they are trailered off, never to see their kin again.  taken to strange lands, strange water and feed.  youngesters (4-6months- 1yr) are tossed in together.  no "adult"supervision.  they become quite the unruly bunch... the mares are saddened by their loss.  they are then hauled to different "events" in hopes they can be adopted out.

i've been to several of this adoptions, local & afar.  seems we have the misfortune here of havin' the most unskilled "horsemen" tendin' this American treasures.  the horses brought here are always underweight, wormy & in severe need of hoof care. the wranglers are impatient and cruel in their handlin' & feedin' of
'em as well.  it breaks my heart further as my concerns fall upon deaf ears...

the "best" adoption i've been to was in Wichita Falls, TX a few years back.  the horses were in great shape, relaxed.  some were so gentle, they'd come up to folks to get a good scratchin' or rub on the neck. great care was taken in feedin' 'em and also in gettin' 'em separated and loaded into the new adoptive "parents" trailers.  i left there relieved (as did the hubs coz i resisted the urge to adopt yet another, lol) in the knowin' that at least once bunch was treated with a lil respect.

it finally came!

yepperz, folks!  twas jolted outta my sickened slumber yesterday eve by a big kaboom!  lightnin' all over, the sky was lit like the most decorated of Christmas trees.  perchance it might rain??  fingers crossed i slithered outta bed.  with the good timin' that all things have, the phone rings.  tis my ranchin' bud "storm headin' yer way", he says, as yet another clap of thunder shakes my mere domicile.  "never mind", he says, "sounds to be already there".  does that giggle that he does and we get back onto the drought, lack of feed, pitiful cattle market, outrageous prices of hay/feed, followed by what's to be done about it...  he'll be cullin' his herds once again & a trip to tulia is in order fer the morn', he replies.  bein' a 4th generation rancher sure is tough on a fella when mother nature doesn't seem to want to cooperate....

anyhow, it poured monkeys fer about 10 minutes, then abruptly stopped.  sigh of relief came from the inner me, sure don't need any floodin', which it wouldn't take much.  no measurable amount of rain here since the 10th of july!  the light show continued on,  thunder ebbed.  hmm, the end?

oh no, not the end, it was swingin' about and returnin' fer an encore!  not the down pour of earlier, but a nice, soft, gentle rain.  jest when one has the biggest of doubts, mother nature knows what the land needs.  let the land open up, then get some more - no run off, goes into the ground where needed.

awoke to another nice gentle shower.  i am most happy!

what would ya do if ya won the lottery?

mind ya, this is a hypothetical question.  i didn't win the lotto.  i didn't come into any fundin' at all!  even "henry" here has been behavin'.  so why'd ya have no new dribble?  coz my body doesn't seem to want to get better.

it's hard to type when there's no feelin' in yer hands.  it's uncomfortable to sit when there's stabbin' pain at every pressure point from the chair, where ever my body touches.  the feet, with their porcupine invasion, cause a pain that's i'd liken to.... well, i jest don't even have the words to describe that sensation!  numbness i'm used to.  joint pain, muscle tics seems to be the norm as of late.  the porcupine thing?  had it in & around my mouth fer a few days back in march... i thought it was the really high dosage of prednisone.   no prednisone i months, so i dunno?

if i were to win the lottery (okay, i'd have to purchase a ticket, eh?), i believe i'd do the most selfish thing in the world.  i'd check myself into the Mayo clinic and tell 'em i'm not leavin' til ya figure out what all the hecks wrong with me and a game plan in place to keep me runnin' as smoothly as possible!

i've no health insurrance.  in the beginnin' it wasn't my fault.  we jest couldn't afford $750/month fer the premium with a $5,000 deductible, 50/50 split and 2 million max.  why so high?   i survived cancer.  apparently that's a crime and noone wants to insure ya, at least back then.  

then the hubs got the bright idea that we never used what we had in premiums paid, so why bother?  obviously he's oblivious to the cost of health care in this country.  i know that when my current doc wanted another colonoscopy, i did some checkin' around in these parts.  $4200 fer the doc (no initial screenin' nor follow-up, jest 20 minutes of his time...), $485 fer the anesthesiologist, $270 minimum fer the pathologist, $10,562 fer the hospitals outpatient services.   what the heck??  no wonder folks can't afford to get sick!  and yes, this what all was quoted to me with the "self pay discount, paid in full up front".  needless to say, that didn't happen.

so, the doc & i sorta stumble about the failin' of this body.  some is blamed on the celiac disease, the other on the crohn's.  i was told that i was lucky in fact that i've jest the numbness that's constant with the bottoms of my feet.  they've another patient that has developed a "tic", slight constant jerkin' of her head and left arm. yes indeed, most fortunate i am!   they are callin' it a "peripheral neuropathy" linked to the celiac disease.  and no, like the disease itself there's no cure.

oh joy....

puter troubles

if there's one thing that really chaps my hide, it's puter troubles!!   solution? (oh, have found that it's a 2007 model...5 years old)  wipe out the hard drive & start anew, says the puter guru son.

so, after much time of movin' schtuff to the external drive (i've hubs & gadgets runnin' all over the place i fear, some i've no clue as to why) he does it.  he wipes "henry" clean.  a fresh start, i tell "henry".  it'll be good fer ya, i tell him.  be brave.  yer gonna be fit as a fiddle in no time.  well, that's what i thought anyhow....

many hours later, device drivers failin' to install, downloads from his (son's) puter to a flash thingy & inserted into a hub port fer extraction, jest to get the net workin' again (thanks, dlink, yer the best....)  alas!  after 4 tries, i've now gotten the printer software/driver reloaded.  praise the stars!

then began the "typical" journey.  re-installation of  avg, cc cleaner, malware bytes, spybot search & destroy... nope puter still aint happy.  mistake of lettin' it go to "sleep" while scourin' the net fer drivers.  upon awakenin', guess what happened?  no mouse cursor!   yepperz, one of the many troubles i had prior had already come back to haunt :(

yet another restart of the system... i'm gettin' frustrated.  mom calls, asks the innocent question "did ya get it runnin' yet?"   bless her heart.  i unloaded in an alien tongue on the poor woman.  she was pleased that it was in alien language & so am i.  would sure as the dickens hate fer her to wash my mouth out with soap!  i'm not even sure of what some of the words were, lol.   oh well, we both needed the chuckle i reckon.

i've not had the puter since about 10 this mornin' & many thoughts have been racin' through my head, jest itchin' to hit the keyboard to tell of my woes/triumphs & defeats.  i went into withdrawals of some sort.  i must face the fact that i'm addicted to the puter...  what a sad lot i am!

anyhow, told the son what the beastly "henry" was up to, he's most agitated at me botherin' him yet again.  his new solution?  buy yerself another darned puter!   which can't be done...winter months are ahead & we're not stocked up on enough hay yet.  i've my priorities in order, in my mind at least.

so, to the few folks who bother to come read my dribblin', if'n ya come & there's nothin' new to read,  it'll jest mean that ol' henry sighed his last cursor and quietly went.

and life goes on.....

one of the hardest things to do is watch a loved one suffer.  be it physical, emotional or even financial.  one has to make a choice, be co-dependent in the wallowin' of self pity, or give 'em a boot to jolt 'em back to reality & what truly matters at the end of the day.....

it's been a day thus far.  puter misbehavin' yet again.  what exactly is the lifespan of a laptop?  i dunno fer certain, but've been told mine is jest plum ancient!   i believe it to be around 6-8 years old, give or take a year or 2 in either direction.  twas given to me, so i've no records to reflect on.

let the pups out without adult supervision.  true to her nature, ms bandit somehow got over the 6' fence that surrounds the backyard.  she's a determined creature.  winds outta the wrong direction, didn't even turn her head when i whistled.  i can see her in the distant, freshly plowed/blown field about 1/4 mile out.  i'm hopin' it's a pheasant she's after (well, she is a bird dog after all) and not the skunk who has been smellin' up our dusty air.    the son goes to water horses fer me (aint he a good'un?) so i told him to keep an eye out.  she's now safely indoors with me, not a hint of skunk, thank goodness.

the hubs calls.  his mom fell & broke her hip thursday and he's been in lubbock at the hospital with her since friday.  they took her to surgery yesterday around noon.  procedure went well.  3 pins to put it back together, good as new in 6 weeks.  this woman will never be "good as new", but we've hopes she'll be up to her onery self :).  

she's been a good patient til today it seems.  the call was to tell me that she's most defiant, whiny, irritable & bein' ugly to his sis.  well, what does one expect?  this woman has had 3 bypasses, more stints than i can recall and fer the past 5 years has been so medicated fer every ailment known to mankind (loads of depression & anxiety) that it's a wonder she's sane at all!  her last heart attack wasn't that long ago.  they went to do a stint, complete blockage on the left (her worst side anyhow, don't they read records or mri reports?) so they opted to put one in the right since it was 90% shutdown....yepperz, went well, we're gonna send ya home day after tomorrow.  well, 2 hours 'fore sendin' her home - crash 'n burn.  go figure, eh?

they finally made the determination that perhaps a pacemaker was in order... after all these years of "there's not much of anythin' that can be done" someone had a light bulb come on.  i asked this very questions 5 years ago, why not a pacemaker?  anyhow, she's been hummin' along with the darned thing.  blood pressure is great, no more anxiety, depression lessened to almost sheer non-existence.  home health comes daily to make sure she's takin' her meds proper and she had jest started gettin' out & about, by herself even, about a week ago.  nope, can't imagine why she'd be cranky with a broke hip, poor woman was finally gettin' a life back!

anyhow, told him they (him & the sis) need to sit down with her, find out what the trouble is.  brooch the possibility that i'm right.  empathize with the feelin's she's havin', then they need to make a plan to re-direct her frustrations to get well & on her feet.  sis needs to jest put a hand up and tell mom that "no, yer not gonna treat me this way.  i'm gonna leave ya to yer own fer a bit", then do that.  leave.  not call him & tell him he needs to return (no, he wouldn't listen & didn't take the necessities with, so was at the store...men...).

maybe what his mom needs is to be left on her own fer a while.  perhaps she'll take that "quiet time" and put it to good use.  somethin' we should all do when troubles abound, frustration & despair sets in.  take a moment to think about it from all angles.  own up to our responsibility fer said "crisis", change what can be changed (normally it's ourselves...easier said than done at times i know), accept that we cannot change others.

visitin' the "p's"

yepperz, i thought this mornin' i'd share some "p" stories with ya.  one to make ya think, the other hopefully to make ya laugh (proceed with caution, coz ya could have an involuntary spewin' of beverage on yer beloved puter).

the 1st topic?  well, since it's Sunday after all would be one involvin' church and religious beliefs.  mind ya, i don't dabble in someone's beliefs - tis a personal choice.  don't care where ya pray, how ya pray nor who ya pray to.   i'm a Mother Earth person.

they had a segment on the albuquerque news a couple weeks ago.  the title was "packin' pistols at the pulpit".  yeppers, ya read that right!  preachers/pastors are totin' firearms, have armed security even.  there's at least 12 known of in that city.  yes, the congregations are all aware & are actually relieved!  one of the pastors whom they interviewed said somethin' along these lines (i suck at quotes, lol) :  i am a man of God, i do not fear.  BUT, God gave us all a brain.  he has no qualms with me protectin' His flock.

i find it very disturbin' that our society has gotten so outta hand that folks feel the need to haul firearms into a church, after all it's 'posed to be a sanctuary.  leave 'em in the truck... but oh wait!  that's not a good idea either.  i agree with this man and the others (he stated that there are pistol packin' pastors all over the country, and i believe 'im), they've the right to protect themselves, their property and the folks who come to worship in peace.  it brings back the ol' adage "if ya shoot me, i'll shoot ya back", and "eye fer an eye", "country justice", etc.  these demented folks who run around tryin' to kill masses of folks who've no part in their woes is horrendous.  yes, most places have surveillance cameras...well, perhaps that helps prosecute the nutbird, but doesn't save many lives now does it?


the 2nd topic?  why critters of course!   i've already told ya in a previous post that i thrive on their antics & actions daily.  they never cease to amaze & amuse, which brings me to mr. patches...

i'm out last eve feedin' the horses.  eyeballin' a storm brewin', winds howlin' about 25-30mph.  looks promisin', but so did the last.  as i come outta the barn to take whiskey pete & rocket man their hay, i notice that mr. patches (a black lab/english pointer cross, lovable lug) is sittin' in the midst of ladybug's corral.   in the mornin' when ya bring her feed, she must go drop some horse apples.  in the eve, she must empty her bladder.  why??  i've not a clue, she's been that way since a babe.  perhaps it's jest the timin'?

anyhow, i'm wallkin' outta the barn with 2 armloads of hay, eyein' the storm when i notice that he'd decided that the middle of her corral is a good spot to take a scratch.  in the meantime, she's gone up on the backside of it to do her pre-suppertime duty.  she squats, he's scratchin', winds blowin' purty steady & all of a sudden he jumps up startled - looks at me high tails it to the pasture.  starts rollin' like a mad man!  what the heck?  yepperz, mr patches was pee'd on in the pasture!!  not intentionally, mind ya.  these things do happen....

so today we've covered some of the "p's"

pistol packin' preachers at the pulpit

patches pee'd on in the pasture

hope one of 'em brought at the very least, a smile to yer face.  a chuckle to yer heart and a comfort to yer soul.

summers heat/subsidies

yepperz, there's sure not much doubt goin' about the central united states that it's jest hot!  summer has been most unkind to so many.  hundreds of fires where homes, livestock, beloved pets & folks have been lost.  thousands upon thousands of acres in our forests destroyed.  critters everywhere scurryin' about tryin' to find their next meal.  crops are shriveled to non-existence, even those that are irrigated cannot withstand the onslaught.

it's jest awful and saddens me greatly.  one cannot do battle with Mother Nature and win.  dunno why folks try.  my neighbor to the west has been plowin' under last years failed wheat crop, so the dirt blows aplenty.  the plan?  why, plant more wheat of course!   not a drop of moisture in over 28 days... but, if they don't "try" to produce a crop, then they don't get their "welfare" check from the government, now do they?   and no, they aren't the only ones - the countryside here is dotted with farm after farm of freshly plowed fields....

i think it's shameful fer folks to take advantage of any "system".  this is one of 'em.  farm subsidies.  makes my skin crawl jest thinkin' about it.  i watch year after year as sprinklers sit idle, cattle wallow out the planted wheat, the farmers wait til it's too late in the season to produce a crop & shazam!  sprinklers start runnin' 24/7.  why?  to "prove" they tried to have a crop, can't get that check otherwise.   wasted electricity, wasted water (which we can't get back...).

can someone honestly tell me this is a good thing?  i'm not here to pick on the farmers.  my papaw was a farmer.  i know it's a hard life.  harder fer some than others.  those who stick it out, save fer the many dry years are the ones who are successful.  he raised a garden, his own beef & chickens.  he fed his family, paid his bills.  didn't extend himself beyond his reaches.  he maintained.  it was a rich life, though not monetarily, it was hard workin' & honest.

chaps my hide to see so many folks runnin' amok in new vehicles every 2 years.  explanation?  tax accountant said i need to do it or i have to pay more in taxes..... what??  yepperz, perfectly legal.  despise that folks who proclaim to be "good stewards of the land" in need of the government to pay 'em NOT to farm!   really?  dont'cha find it somewhat ironic, the same folks who bash the government coz they don't do enough aint doin' their share, yet want more.

i do not wish to see the small farmer go to the wayside.  am all fer small business, growth & prosperity.  but one shouldn't have to be rewarded with a check every year coz they've returned the earth to her natural state (which the government pays fer the seed & trust me, it aint cheap!).  they should do it coz it's the right thing to do.

the land must heal, she'll do so on her own accord and give lil thought as to the destruction she's done... jest like the folks who've destroyed it.