Welcome to our ranch near Canada's west coast in Beautiful British Columbia's West Chilcotin mountain region. Where calling the vet means hollering back at the house to bring your kit, new friendships are formed from the back of a horse and true fun for a five year old is getting a machete for Christmas. Where 'cutting the dinks off' has a totally different meaning than what first comes to mind, Muck Boots are a household name, a hand shake still means something and the coffee is always on.

Tuesday, 30 June 2015

End of June

First off, there is no more sign of the rogue bear.  I think momma cow took care of that problem.  There is still bear 'sign', but not more bear 'kills' to be found, which is the important part.  
Otherwise we have been riding riding riding, and no, I'm not even close to tired of doing that!  Mum is pretty much 100% now, you would not be able to tell she is still recovering from a broken wrist.  It is certainly not as strong as it used to be, but she has been to the physiotherapist for techniques and exercises to strengthen and get all the muscles working again.  We both agreed that riding is the best kind of therapy anyhow, on many levels!


  

The cows look great and the calves continue to grow.  So far the bulls have remained reasonably sound (only one seriously lame one, that is pretty good!) and of course the grass is amazing.  A couple of our neighbors are about to start cutting hay, and I can tell you that is plain out amazing for Anahim Lake!  Haying in JUNE??  I know, I know, many others are working on their second crop....  But not in our little piece of Beautiful BC! 
The hay is as tall as I am (REALLY tall...haha!).  
Do you see an extra face?

I had a chance to look at the colts the other day.  Crazy how much they have grown already.  And even more amazing that those wee backs and legs will very soon be strong enough to pack me.  


  Hardly looks like the wobbly little fella he once was!  This is the baby that Nikky and I had to stall up with his momma when the big mare tried to steal him!  

Now Miss Kitty, the baby thief, has her own!  And what a solid cutie pie he is. 
   
The weather continues to be hot, and with school now out, the boys are spending much of their time in the creek!  They have been riding with me quite a bit too, but I keep forgetting my camera....


And in other news, we snuck away for the afternoon last Saturday to go to a Horsemanship Clinic with Evan Howarth.  I will talk a bit more about the clinics in another post, but one thing is for sure.  I always come away empowered and inspired by Evan's amazing ability with horses.  Our young friend Cody took the clinic and here he is having some round pen fun with his mare Cessna.  

The big bouncy balls are the best.  Gets horse and rider focusing and working together.  And what better than a game of hoof ball?  

Evan rides his horse through the obstacle first.  Soon, everyone is trotting through the tarp, over the cow hide and hitting the ball.  You wouldn't believe what this does for horse and rider......awesome!  

  
Thought of this first photo when I headed up to check the meadow tonight.  Couldn't quite remember exactly where I had taken it from and was just a bit far back when I took the second one today.  (Rained earlier so looks muddy....) 

Alright, I'm signing off for tonight.  I will be flying with my brother first thing again tomorrow morning for a good look around and see where everything is.  Mum, Olivia and Cody will meet me at the airport and then we will head off to move cattle on the Lille Lake Range.  Not supposed to be quite so hot so hopefully the cattle move okay.  Yesterday was some kind of heat record I'm sure, and it took us 4 hours to convince them to move just a few miles.  That gets to be like work!

Cheers all!  
Punky

      



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