This Forunm is getting stale.

I need some vicarious excitement.

So what happened in the accident?

It is getting a little stale. So let me post this link. Each spring we go down and ride the red rock canyon country of southern utah. I don't get as crazy as these guys, if there is a gentle way around an obsticle, I let the horse take the easy way. But there are some places you just have to go up and over some pretty good ledges or drop off some banks going down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...aIdc&feature=related

It is great country to explore in the spring when the alpine mountains are still buried in snow and unaccessable. And I have been amazed at what my horses will cross or climb up.

Howdy Painted, been awhile.
Good video, I assume the horses are barefoot(?)

I haven't asked them.
My experience in sand stone has been that I get better traction with a shod horse. The steel shoes bite into the soft sand stone while the bare foot horse slips and slids on the gritty sandy surface.

My horses are bare foot most of the time and we have had a few slips and slides while my shod friends just walked across the slick rock.

It's a totally different situation from steel shoes on granite.

I'm thinking of joining them, just to see a new trail. They do a spring ride into Robbers Roost Where I've never been. I'm sure there is a easier way around every one of their ledges. So I'm sure my barefoot horses can traverse the area.

I recall you stating yours were barefoot.
Sounds like an interesting trip.

I grew up in that country and my brother is still there riding both Horses and the dreaded mule. He sharp shod his horses with Borium headed nails that he makes himself and the mules vary depending on whether you can shoe the darned thing or not...
We just used whatever we had growing up but toes and heels were great until my brother found some hard surface rod. The sandstone will build up under the foot as it grinds away until you are on a bed of rolling rock and that is when gravity takes over. Sharp shod gives both grip and height for material to build up in before "Sedimentary-Planing" occurs!
Those are some very good minded horses in that video. Notice the ears up all the time looking at the ground. No sign of unwillingness but very careful with their feet.
I was just talking to my brother about some rides he has been on this winter. I miss the homeland very much sometimes. We learned the meaning of Freedom there and we learned it early.
dmw

I have been very pleased at how easily my horses take to that kind of riding. One of my first trips to the area was on a younger green horses that I had just started that summer. When I saw the riders in front of me going over 3-4 foot ledges, I thought Oh No, what this colt going to do. He just followed the lead horses like it was an every day occurance.

Even squezing through slot canyons hasn't been a big deal for my horses.

Will,
Well I was at a team roping practice, and a big ole kid turned a big ole steer,on his big ole horse so I picked up both feet and I'm a tie on roper you know, so I got a coil around my ropeing hand (right hand)and it looked like a Roadrunner cartoon, he hit the end of the rope and I stopped my horse and the middle of my hand was about a half inch circle with big ole fingers sticking out one side and the hand on the other and the steer was stretched 3 ft. longer than usual...

Major hand reconstruction and a 8 weeks in a cast and another 4 months of therapy and its working well enough to rope now and I can shoot now, but the really big bores get my finger pretty bad and I got this cute little humongus flinch!! but it gets better every day, so two week ago I got a stint in my ticker and two baloon thingies, and now, I'm now back in business roping, selling hunts, shooting, building guns, and getting ready for elk season. Can't checker anymore but who cares, I can get someone else to do that.

Still bored?, if so, let me know I'll figure out something else to entertain ya...I'm almost 78 and I can really make things happen with not a hell of a lot of effort..

Gett'n old ain't for sissies, but you know that ole buddy!!

Ray,

Glad to see you are getting well. Long recovery time, eh? But then you gotta start roping again!

My play time is mostly consumed by riding the new mule here in flat country. She is going to be a good one, possibly better than my other that went lame on me. She is still young at 7 years, but I'm trying new things every day to desensitize her.

I figure if I can slide off her butt to dismount (and save my knees) from the first time I got on her, things are looking good.

Ray, very sorry to hear about your accident -- and the stent and angioplasty. You know you can always go back to that .25-35 and neck shots for your elk meat.

You know Bill your right and thats what I did deer season and elk season, got a nice Mule Deer buck the first day with the 25-35, but the wolves got into my elk herd so I stayed home..

I'm shooting the bigger guns a little more all the time, got me a sponge bobber for the back of the trigger guards from Trader Keiths, and it sure helps on the middle finger and that was the main problem..The hand is a slow healer but I'm roping again and shooting more and more, and thats all that matters..I doubt that I'll ever checker another gun stock, its too stiff, but who cares, I can get someone to do that.

All in all I'm feeling great and going strong..That heart stuff was a cake walk, and didn't even hurt and I went in one day and came home the next and mowed the grass the next day..Better than a dentist for sure!!! The hand is better every day but lots of arthritis in the first two knuckles but its working. Doc said he gives me another 80 years to match the ones I got.

quote:

Originally posted by Painted Horse:
It is getting a little stale. So let me post this link. Each spring we go down and ride the red rock canyon country of southern utah. I don't get as crazy as these guys, if there is a gentle way around an obsticle, I let the horse take the easy way. But there are some places you just have to go up and over some pretty good ledges or drop off some banks going down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...aIdc&feature=related

It is great country to explore in the spring when the alpine mountains are still buried in snow and unaccessable. And I have been amazed at what my horses will cross or climb up.

Pretty crazy!

Glad to hear you are mending Ray. Congratulations on taking your mule deer with the .25-35. You are a member of a pretty small club.

Bill,
The 25-35 is a small club, but I came by it naturally in a ranching family that hunting wasn't a priorty. It was my first gun as that was what local folks gave their kids back then.

I really enjoy hunting with the 25-35 and I know its limits and shot placement is critical and if your off you will not recover the animal, so you must use your best hunting skills or get lucky. It kills very well up to 200 yards with a heart/lung shot, but I limit myself to 100 yards. It's like hunting with a bow, pistol, or muzzle loader I suppose. Just plain fun.

sorry to hear about the finger ray

gramps lost the big one years back

same way but on the ranch wild slicks

I drilled for many years thank god I still got 10

Well its been awhile since I read this thread, but I have to add my last mess to it..The found a tumor in my spine down low as I was having what I thought was Siatica..So had surgery and it had grown all the way around my spine..so the cut it out along with some bone and fused everything back together again and thats been a month or so ago and I'm now back roping and think everything is back together..and I'm 98% good to go.

One thing I am damn sure of "Getting old ain't for sissies"

I wish you the best Ray, but you know that.

Hope you have a 100%+ recovery very soon.

Its been a rough year, one thing after another, I forgot to tell you they removed a tumor from my spine and thats my latest bad news, but its fine and I'm healed up and haired over now, feeling great..

Started roping again this week, and I can shoot a big bore again, the hand can hold the grip and they don't bust my knucle anymore, so I'm as close to 100% as can be..Lost my old horse but my 13 year old has come into his own and is a good heel horse..