a Friday Chuckle
Sometimes getting a proper portrait of a colt is simply out of the question. You’ve just got to go with what they give you and have a nice chuckle. Happy Friday everyone!
He Spies with a Big Brown Eye
In a barn built in 1881 made of limestone and mule shoes, a peeping pony asked to be petted.
(I had title block so today’s title credit goes to my dear friend Jessica W in my hometown of Macon,GA. Thank you friend. Your print is in the mail. xoxo)
Snowglow
The weatherman threatened a massive blizzard this past weekend and nothing happened. Zilch. Nada. But two nights ago it finally snowed and we had about an inch on the ground yesterday morning. It melted by mid-morning down low but yesterday evening, Squaw Mountain still beamed with a bright snow glow.
My, How You’ve Grown
Remember her?
And her?
Poco’s baby (top) and Kate’s baby (above) were both born a little over a year ago.
I thought you might like to see them now.
Here is Kate’s baby girl all grown up.
Poco’s baby is on the far right and they both were weaned off mama late last year. They were eventually put out in the meadows with our lead mare, Paddy’s Frost aka Rat. They went off with her to keep calm and be “supervised”.
Rat took right to her babysitting duties and takes great pride in showing the girls the way.
In fact, now that the other ranch horses have joined them in the meadows, Rat continues to lead the way.
Best friends forever.
Bring on the Mistletoe!
Merry Kissmas everyone!
We wish you peace, joy and love and lots of kisses this holiday season. 
Comic Relief
Let’s have a laugh during election day shall we?
This young stud colt has no patience to walk to the creek behind the house to get a drink of water. Instead, he stands over the lawn sprinkler to let little splashes of well water hit his lips before continuing on to a new part of the yard to graze. Silly guy.
Spaz and Red Cat
Hi guys! My calendar is full of shoots and projects for clients last week and this week. I’m not complaining, in fact I’m celebrating, but unfortunately it causes me to neglect this blog. So I wanted to check in this morning and show you this fun little outtake from a shoot for a client selling one of their horses. Spaz the cow herding dog checked in with Red Cat to make sure we were having a good shoot and were showing off his best side.
Hope you are having a good start to your week. Happy shooting!
Chasing Butterflies
We have a crew coming out for a branding soon so Patrick is getting rides in on the horses after their long winter of staying in the corral and pigging out on yummy hay. They need the exercise and he likes to get them a little tired out before he puts shoes on them. Horses can be a little ornery when told what to do after months of doing what they want.
After unsaddling a couple horses the other evening, I walked out of the tack room and was swarmed by butterflies and moths. It was unreal, they must have hatched at the very moment I was unsaddling.
So I put the tired horses back in the corral and ran around for an hour with my camera.
They were exploring every bush and every flower and they wouldn’t stay still long enough to be photographed. But I like these two, hope you do too!
Saltin’ the Cows
Patrick is working with Crazy Alice these days. She’s a two year old filly here on the ranch.
He loaded a pack saddle with two hundred pounds of salt and led her out to the cattle. Cows need iodine in their diet just like we do.
We walked her through the cattle, tagged calves, and made small commotions to get her used to the real world.
Putting weight on her and walking her through the cows is a way to get her warmed up to an eventual ride. Stay tuned for that. I’ll be standing on the outside of the pen to tell Patrick what happened when he gets bucked off!
What a Week!
The last few days have been utterly amazing, very busy and extremely heartwarming. Three of my most favorite friends came out for a visit and we had a blast. While they were here we worked on a video shoot for a client of theirs, a photo shoot for a client of mine, Uprooted Magnolia was featured on the WordPress list of “8 Gorgeous Nature Blogs for Earth Day”, and I received a call from an ad agency here in Wyoming for several photo shoots for this upcoming summer. Wow, it’s been a whirlwind! I now call this trio my good luck charms. I did put them to work on the ranch however. We moved some cows and brought Poco and Kate and their colts to new pasture. They watched a calf being born from a distance, viewed several turkey struts, and we even stumbled on a snake or two. Yikes!
I’ve got to get back to work on processing the images from my shoot this past weekend but I wanted to check in with you and say THANK YOU. Thank you to my now 510! followers, new and old. You all have been a great support and inspiration. I love hearing from you and am flattered beyond words that WordPress would feature my images for the community to see. I am truly grateful.
I’ll see you soon.
L♥ve,
Leah
Various Ramblings and Images ’cause I Miss You
A few things…
We woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground this morning. We’ve been desperate for moisture.
It’s busy ’round here. I’ve been more of a cowgirl than a photographer lately and I miss my camera.
I fixed that this morning ’cause I miss y’all.
I have some stories to share and hope to find time to write them. There is one in particular that had our family howling over Easter lunch. I’m not much of a writer and there aren’t too many pictures to go along with it but I’ll make it work somehow.
Our little Pinrow has a new cow mommy. Yay for him. Sad for me.
We had a new shipment of heifers and calves this weekend. You see, heifers (first time mothers) don’t really know how to be a mom so they’ll let any calf suck. There were times down in the corrals while we were sorting them, that a heifer had a calf on each side and one in the back suckling. “Nobody’s gonna go hungry in this herd!”, Patrick said. I stood there in shock. Bunch of hippies I say.
Mother cows that have done this a few times will kick and headbutt a calf if one other than hers tries to suck.
The gobblers are gobbling daily.
And strutting daily.
We wake up every morning to the song of the meadowlark.
I was finally able to capture the elusive Merganser Ducks in the pond this morning.
This couple is always around but so difficult to capture. I sneaked up on them this morning.
Geese honk constantly. It’s become annoying. At least they are photogenic.
I’m working on a project for a client where I’m adding color to black and white landscapes. I think it’s going to look good and I hope to share some of that with you when the job is completed.
In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had to pull about 4 calves out of mother cows because the calf was either backwards, too big or the cow was weak after pushing for too long. Eeeesh. Sometimes when I use the word “we” I tell you that I use it loosely. Usually “we” means Patrick but here lately, I’m in it up to my elbows.
I have good friends flying in tomorrow for a visit. I can’t wait. ♥
Hog Pigs
Musical meadows continues. Patrick moved the ladies even closer and they are eating it right up.
This meadow flooded when the river was so high and he couldn’t put it up for hay. So let the grazing begin!
They also like dips and sips in the river. That water is a little too chilly for me but more power to you girlfriend.
Oh…and one more thing.
At sundown yesterday, we put Kate and her filly in with the others. As you can probably imagine by the picture above, there was a lot of rootin’ and a-tootin’! She tricked them by going through the open gate to the neighboring meadow and Pepper, Alice, and Poco were running wild trying to get to them. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ve figured out they don’t have to be separated. In the meantime, don’t get kicked!
Whiskers
“This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don’t go into yours, you don’t go into mine.” (name that movie)
Alice is always up in my business. Whenever I pass through the meadow she’s comes right up to see what I’m up to… and apparently to see what I smell like. ‘Cause when I turn around, I get this:
*sniff sniff snort*
It’s a good thing we’re not dance partners.
Speaking of up close and personal,
Kate’s baby is so cute. Just check out her whiskers!
The snow is gone but we are still dealing with high winds. Yesterday was warm but springtime really doesn’t kick in until June so…I guess I’ll take the tossed in warm days between snow days any time they want to appear.
Happy Monday my friends!
Live…
..like somebody left the gate open.
I saw that phrase on the internet captioning a picture of a dog running it’s little heart out with a smile on his face across a meadow. I immediately thought of it when we brought Poco and her filly out of her corral and into the wide open meadows.
This little tike ran…
and ran…
and ran. She made about 5 circles around Poco and I while we waited for Patrick to get all the gates.
Then she’d check in with her mom….and start it all over again.
Happiness is running like the Wyoming wind in wide open spaces. Happy Friday everyone!
A Weekend of Firsts
Phew! This was a very eventful and COLD weekend. Like 10 degrees and below cold.
We got our first calf. Ironically from heifer #1, a first time mother on Saturday.
Poco’s filly started eating hay. She would eat a few bites, and then go suckle. So cute!
Yep. Those are icicles on her little ears. It’s THAT cold!
Kate and family had “no comment” and went on to find a spot to lay down.
As if we weren’t cold enough and covered in 5 inches of snow already, we woke up to a our first deep frost of the year on Sunday morning.
So we moved the cows from the pasture across the river…
…to our backyard.
Then Patrick went to feed the bulls a couple pastures over and the tractor broke down.
So we had to tow it back home. Him driving backwards in the working tractor and me steering the broken down tractor. Not easy. And not my favorite adventure thus far.
We walked into the house just before dark. I put a couple more logs on the fire, wrapped up in fleece head to toe, opened a bottle of Chianti, and enjoyed my couch and the Grammy’s.
Hooked
Snow has been falling since early this morning but isn’t sticking much.
Obviously I can’t keep my eyes or my camera off of Kate and her little one.
But I’m justified in my concern and constant spying.
Patrick couldn’t find our fragile loved one this morning, and neither could her frantic mother and the other horses.
She got herself pinned in a tight spot and when I got the call, I came running and actually hurdled over
the fence to help .
Once we freed her from her confines, Kate whinnied, ran right up to her and they immediately hooked onto one another. The love and bond is so strong with these two. There is always the chance that mom will disown her foal if something rocks the boat.
It was very stressful but everyone is fine and together and momma Leah is watching over them closer than ever. But I’m watching from the window as I recover from that hurdle. I think I pulled something.
It’s Another Girl!
Kate had her baby girl yesterday morning as I was reporting to you about Poco and her filly.
We walked up quietly just to check from a distance to make sure mom and baby were well.
She was up and sucking….
…and still learning how to work those long legs.
This bald eagle was circling, I don’t think he posed a threat but he probably smelled the brand new life and was just as curious as we were.
I checked on them later in the afternoon and her nose was covered in milk. Momma seemed tired.
So they both went down for a nap. Good work first time mom.
Kate loves her baby.
So do I.
♥
Second Day with Poco and the Filly
Wasn’t sure what to expect on day two. February is not ideal for a horse to give birth out here in the low temps but since this wasn’t planned, we leave it up to nature.
I thought I’d find our new colt and her momma inside the barn on her first snowy morning but when I walked up to check on them, they were outside taking it all in.
By afternoon the sun came out and it was a great time for a nap to soak in the warmth.
When she’s about 3 weeks old, we’ll have a good idea what she will look like as a full grown horse. Her color, her build, etc. Right now she’s all legs.
In the evening we separated Kate from the big herd of geldings and mares and put her in the pasture with Crazy Alice and Pepper. They ran her hard until she was fed up and showed them who was boss.
This will be the first time Kate gives birth and when she finally does, we’ll move her in with Poco and the filly.
she’s watcha call a Catch-Colt
We had a sweet surprise yesterday afternoon. As I was replying to an email from my dear friend back east that introduced me to Wyoming, Patrick called and said “put your coat on, get on the four wheeler and come to the hillside where we walk the dogs”. I knew exactly where he was talking about so off I went.
When I arrived, I saw her. This itty bitty filly was already standing, still wet and maybe 2 hours old. And folks, this was an unplanned parenthood. About 11 months ago, the neighbors stud got in with 2 of our mares and may have bred them both. We were reassured by many that the horses weren’t cycling and more than likely weren’t bred.
But this little cutie-pie proves everyone wrong.
We gave them a couple hours and noticed that the geldings were kicking each other competing for the attention of the colt and mare. We had to get them separated to calm everyone down. It wasn’t easy but we got them corralled.
Poco 190 and her colt are in their own pin with protection from the cold and wind. Kate has a big belly so we’ll be watching her closely for the next few days. In the meantime, I’ll be having fun taking portraits of our precious little mutt.
Compadres
I dared to take a walk in the winds of the wild and got as far as the horse gate. I went in and scrubbed on some noses and cheeks. These two, Gus and Hillbilly, are best buds.
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