I enjoy riding her because she pretty much will go anywhere I point her, she loves to travel, she's stout & strong & can go all day. And she's SMART which sounds great, but not always (more on THAT later). These are all traits that we find very useful and appealing (most of the time, but more on that later).
Here she is, laying down this morning, because she's very tired (but more on that later).....
As I mentioned in my last blog, we recently bought a hood cleaning business and have been very busy with that in addition to all our other commitments. Tuesday, we got up early & headed to Bozeman for errands & then that night he drove to Ennis for a night job at a restaurant there. He got home around 5am and grabbed around 4-5 hours sleep. Then, up and at 'em again. We had a lot of cleaning to do here at the ranch after having guests in the main house for a solid week. Each day we put the horses in smaller areas to eat down grass around buildings and to help save the grass in the pasture, so that was first on the list. I also did bookwork and caught up on some things online & housework in our own cabin. Then, I worked on cleaning the guest house, Jeff was draining / cleaning hot tub, mowing & weed-eating, we ran to the laundromat to wash his nasty laundry from the hood cleaning (NOT doing it in our washer/dryer!), hauled garbage to the dump, etc.
On our way home, we come around a corner to find Bendigo broke down on the side of the road, so we worked on getting him home & the problem solved. At 5-ish, we finally came in & sat down & Jeff decided he needed a nap & headed to the cabin to rest. Ben & I were discussing going to a movie when we heard a commotion outside. No, it wasn't Santa Claus - we saw horses running willy-nilly outside - NOT in their pens. Two were still in the pen by our buildings but the other 4 were heads-up, cantering along the fence, causing havoc. I hollered at Ben & we ran outside & he went downhill (to try & cut off Jasmine & Chex) and I went up hill (to get Mel & Blaze). NONE of them were interested in cooperating. As I was running my two back down the fence for the 3rd time to try & get them back in their pen, Jeff heard the noise & came out & helped me get them into the pen with the two we still had. But... no sign of Bendigo & our two horses so I went looking. Found him on his way back, and no sign of the equines. We quickly deduced that the extra chain hadn't been replaced on the gate to their pen and my very smart mare is a wizard at opening gates that aren't double or triple locked. She had opened it & let the other 3 out, then headed down hill.
Ok, so for a little info on horses here: A horse that gets out typically does one of two things:
A - go looking for the nearest other horses & stand there close to where they're at.
B- wander downhill a little ways & then drop their head & start eating
As Jasmine (and Chex although I won't mention him much as he's a follower), were obviously NOT interested in the other horses, we decided we'd hop on the Ranger & try to get below where they were most likely to have stopped to eat & then push them back up the hill or catch them. So, off the 3 of us go (with NO supplies except halters & treats). We went some ways down the hill & find nothing but tracks. So, we came back to the ranch, & started tracking them. When we realized that Jaz had decided to go further than is typical, we sent Ben back to get the Ranger again and my phone. Jeff & I tracked them to where they'd come out to the road & Ben picked us up there.
As we were headed down the road, we get a call from the Security Gate. I answered with "YES, we're missing horses and headed your way, will be there in a few minutes". The guard laughed & said "Ok. They're hanging out here by the guard cabin". "Great! We'll be there in two minutes".
Two minutes later, the guard is explaining how the horses WERE there, but had headed downhill again... ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So.. off we go again.
I drop Jeff & Ben at a gated logging road down the mountain further where we hope they can get below the horses by jogging back towards where they headed down. I went back up by the guard station and started tracking them downhill.
Ok, another side note: Remember when I said how Jaz will go anywhere? And that she's strong? And fast? NOT so happy with that at this point. She was headed STRAIGHT downhill... a VERY STEEP downhill - and moving fast.
I meet up with Jeff & Ben on the logging road & we've missed the horses... Jaz is STILL headed straight down with no stopping. So, again, we decide to split up - he'll head downhill with Ben to keep tracking them & I'll go BACK UP & get the ranger & meet up with them somewhere. I FINALLY get back up the hill (sweating, gasping, and in pain). I decided to call Ben (b/c remember that Jeff doesn't have a phone) and see what Jeff thinks about me going back to the ranch & getting my pickup, water & binoculars so I can try to get to a vantage point & get a bead on them. He says great, he'd finally gotten to the bottom of the ravine & the horses appeared to be headed UPSTREAM (WHAT? Horses go DOWNHILL when given the choice - except for Jaz, obviously).
So, off I go to grab that stuff (but not Jeff's phone b/c I'm an idiot some days). As I got back down to where I was going to start trying to glass, Ben calls & says stop, they can see me & are close & are coming up the road to meet me. A few minutes later they appear and Jeff says "Can you see her?" "No" I answer, thinking he's lost her. "She's right there!" he says, and I'm looking up & down the very wooded canyon wondering how he can see her through the trees. "NO... Look UP" he says... "NO.. HIGHER" he yells... and there she is up on the ridge across the creek... (Poor Chex panting slowing along behind her as she trots back & forth trying to get him to speed up). What stupid horse goes back UPHILL especially when it's REALLY steep & thick with trees, downed timber & brush?
Ok, new plan: Ben will stay here with the binoculars where he can keep an eye on them & will report to us. Jeff & I take off in the pickup to get to the other side of the canyon & try to find how we can get down to that logging road that she's on & see if we can cut her off. After visiting with the guards on that side, I drop him off at a location where he can drop off the ridge & get to the road. I go up over the hill & park part way down on the OTHER side & start jogging down the trail to try & get to the logging road so we can catch her in between us. Of course, the hillside down to that logging road is a lot higher / further than I anticipated AND it's VERY steep. So, I slip & slide my way down & finally hit the road. About that time, Ben calls & says Jeff's got the horses. GREAT.. glad he does, but he's GOING THE WRONG WAY.... away from me, not towards, so how am I going to get off this mountain without the horses? He has no phone so I can't coordinate with him, my knee is shot, I'm exhausted & there is NO WAY I'm climbing back up to the truck. Walking the same direction as Jeff is going means probably a two-hour hike... but I can see the corrals at the end of the road I'm on, that belong to Spanish Peaks and are about 1 minutes walk from my friend's Marie's house. So, I call her but she's in Big Sky having dinner. The angel agrees to leave & come home to pick me up at the end of the road & drive me back up to my pickup. FANTASTIC.
So, I get in the pickup & go to where I dropped Jeff off, (thinking, reasonably, that he'd come back out there). Nope... I talk to Ben again and find out that Jeff hadn't actually caught both horses, he'd caught one & was following Jaz as she walked away from him, up the canyon. Ugh... Ok, I guess I'll try & figure out where that road comes out up-canyon & see if I can intercept them there.
Wait... a phone call coming in from Marie? "Hello?" "Guess who's at my house?" she asks... yup, you guessed it! JEFF. He had actually ended up catching Jaz & he also decided those corrals were the easiest closest option & headed back that direction. Somehow Ben had missed the direction change. All in All... I'm guessing Jaz had gone down around 1,000 feet & then back up around 750... all STRAIGHT down & STRAIGHT back up...
So, finally, horses were in the Spanish Peaks corrals, Jeff was at Marie's, I picked up Ben from the side of the road, we ran back to the ranch & got the horse trailer, went & picked up Jeff & loaded the horses (amazingly they both loaded into our TINY trailer that we've never had two horses in), and drove them home (with my little F150 - I love my truck.. it doesn't run away, go up hills, open gates....)
And, so we're all home safe & sorta sound. I'm lamed up with a very sore knee... Jaz is exhausted in the pasture... and Jeff's off to another hood cleaning job this a.m. W
We live a VERY romantic and fun life....
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