I'm off to Oklahoma.

I'll be in Oklahoma for a week, visiting with my son, Keegan his wife Nicky and my little granddaughter, Amelia.

William will be in charge of stuffing the horses full of carrots and generally entertaining them.

My three wonderful horses.

I'm so lucky to have three beautiful horses.

Here's Foxsun's self trimmed hooves.



Yesterday my Morgan, Foxsun, was in with Cowslip, our very elderly blind cow, because Brad was feeding the cows something he shouldn't eat. When the herd left for the night he was left behind with Cowslip and was whinnying for his old cow wife, who had hung around for him for awhile then left to catch up with the rest of the cattle.

Brad went to open the gate to let him out but he got Cowslip's special dinner bucket first. Cowslip isn't digesting her food properly because her rumen isn't working very well anymore, so Brad gives her something special to eat that she loves. Hearing the sound of her bucket she went for anything that she heard moving. She walked right into the back of Foxsun who didn't mind because he's used to old cows, being married to one. Then she heard me and came after me. That was a sight! I was hobbling along as fast as I could and shouting as loud as I could so she wouldn't run me down and she was feebly staggering after me. It looked like a slow motion train wreck I'm sure. Foxsun saved me. He put his body in between Cowslip and me and very slowly walked with me over to Brad, even though the gate was now wide open and he'd been crying for ages to go and catch up with his herd. Once I was safe he went through the gate. The herd was about a mile away and he trotted west through the sagebrush and into the setting sun to find them. For twenty years he's been our dear horse pet. He's wonderful to ride too.

My pets look after me. Last year his old cow wife, Dandylyons and he got separated from each other and he went crazy galloping all over. He had about 300 acres to search and I could see her with the cows up on the bluff. I went up there as far as I could on my crutches to call her. She left the herd and came to me. Seeing I was having trouble getting back down the steep bluff, she let me put my arm over her back and walked very very slowly down. I was able to reunited her with Foxsun. I raised Dandylyons from birth and she loves people. She hates bulls so she hasn't had a calf for about ten years.

I did some wild Mustang fishing today with Echo. It gives us something fun to do together. Here he is trying to steal the bait right out of the plastic bag where I'd stuffed it. I was using fresh alfalfa as bait and pushing it through the loop at the end of my whip.



He watched me bait my 'hook'.



Then we had some fun. I can catch him down low or up high.





He loves to hang out with me. When I sit in my lawn chair he stands over me. Everyday he lets me touch a little bit more of his face. I touched his cheek today and wiped some stuff out of his eye. Maybe in a few weeks I'll be able to touch his ears and neck.

Wildairo holds no grudge against us for stabbing him in the neck with a needle and letting a stranger go one on one with him. In fact he loves his new feet and eagerly holds them up for Brad now.

Wildairo puts up a fight.

Wildairo put up one heck of a fight! Even under heavy duty sedation he really played the wild Mustang card. He was rearing, striking out with all four feet and biting. Well, he only tried to bite once, then the farrier, Jeff, hauled off and punched him in the mouth. Wildairo got a few kicks in though. Jeff said he wasn't hurt and they may have been glancing blows. Jeff said he hoped we didn't mind that he punched him and I told him I had to get rough with him myself at first. It was one hell of a fight! At one point Wildairo fell to the ground. I really think we should have all jumped on him right there and pinned him down.

I didn't take picture photos of Wildairo's brave, but loosing battle with the farrier because I was too busy trying to save my own skin. I finally fled the scene and let Brad and Jeff deal with him. I went over to Echo, who was a bit upset but still eager for company. Jeff hung on to the lead rope and really showed Wildairo who was boss. Wildairo was actually rearing up and striking with his front hooves! Wow, if wild horse fighting ever became an Olympic event Wildairo would be a contender. The nice thing about Wildairo is once you show him who's boss he's cool with it.



Soon as Jeff got his hoof up he stood pretty still. It seems like Wildairo is just scared of the 'stranger danger'. He will not let strange people get near him. As all you horsie people know, horses have brains that are designed so you have to train them on both sides of their bodies. But Wildairo's brain is in four parts, not two. He had to be trained for all four feet in other words!!!

Jeff was incredible! He hung in there and got the job done. He used a rope to do something with the back ones. I was hiding out with Echo so I didn't see what he did. Soon as Jeff left Wildairo gave in to the tranquilizer and spaced out. I wanted to throttle him but I didn't.



How can a horse be so lovable with his family and so frightened of strangers?



His feet look so nice now. This is not a good picture because of the sand and he was standing very oddly because of the tranquilizer. I wonder if Wildairo will ever get over his fear of strangers? Brad wasn't here the last time the farrier came and he didn't think there was a need for sedation. He was very surprised how volatile Wildairo got when he was approached by the farrier. Once Jeff was next to him with his hoof up he seemed OK. I'm thinking of using a blindfold next time. I might get one for Wildairo too.

Lincoln Co. fair & moving Echo.

The Lincoln County Fair was fun. This is an huge Ox that belongs to Bullwackin' Kass.



We met Lea of 'Lea and her Mustangs blog'. We had a very nice visit. We were very impressed with Dusty Roller and the Mustang he has been training for the 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover. The Mustang's name is Telford and Dusty has had him since June. It's incredible what he can do with him. He's an excellent trainer and Telford is as easy going as a horse can ever be.



He has started to trained Telford to lie down, but at the demonstration, once down, Telford fell asleep and Dusty had a bit of a time getting him back up. The audience loved it.



Dusty can jump Telford with or without a bridle while cracking a bullwhip over his head. It was very impressive. Telford is 4 years old and spent 2 years in the BLM corrals at Litchfield, California. Dusty picked him up at the Palomino Valley corrals in Nevada.



Dusty said Telford was the easiest horse to start this year. I really hope Dusty will be able to train our boys next year because he's awesome with horses. I'm not sure if I want to get into standing on the saddle while cracking a bullwhip though. Heck, who knows though, it might come in handy around here.

I moved Echo Taffy to a bigger corral after we got home from the fair. Echo didn't want to leave his small pen and it took ages for him to come out. I had to keep walking up to him, turning around and walking out of the pen. Finally he followed me to his new pen. I kept telling him we were going 'walkies'. He walks up to me for carrots and lets me stroke his face but he starts snorting and getting fearful if anyone else comes in the corral. I was working with Echo perfecting his carrot eating technique, and in the other corral William and Brad were with Wildairo practising for his big day tomorrow. Wildairo considers Brad his drinking buddy because he and Brad share an evening beer now. Thing's have really gone in the gutter around here! Brad and Wildairo have quiet a bond. Brad also feeds Wildairo peaches!!

Echo is the opposite of Wildairo.

For the last couple of days I've been able to stroke Echo all the up above his eyes. For a few days he only let me stroke the side of his nose. He's very timid but has shown no signs of aggression like Wildairo did. Not once has he pinned his ears back or lifted a hoof as a threat. I am so glad because I don't want to go through all that 'who's the boss' again. He's very relaxing to be around.

I'm becoming very fond of the little guy. Before he got his halter off I could give the lead rope a gentle tug and he'd step up to me. He is so scared and he's really trying to be friends.

Wildairo is going to be sedated for his Monday appointment with the farrier. His hooves are so bad now that we can't take any chances of him misbehaving again. Although I've had the vet sedate my horses for many procedures I've never had a horse sedated for the farrier. Has anyone gone through this? My vet said that he'll still be able to stand on three legs.