From the Barnyard
The Donkey Games
February 9, 2015
Ok, this is going to be a little different kind of blog post today! We had so much fun this first weekend of February! Temps up in the 50s and 60s! (But the wind was blowing a bazillion miles per hour!) The girls came over and we had so much fun, but most of the pics I took were with the cell phone. So the photography isn’t stellar, but sometimes I have to walk the fine line of participating in the fun and filming the fun.
Also some of the fun was ACTION! So I took video. I opted to share short clips, mostly 8 seconds or so, and none are longer than 54 seconds. And they can be enjoyed with or without sound (for those of you sitting at your desk in your office. Actually if you watch them silently I won’t have to be embarrassed by my maniacal laughing.)
Also this page may load kinda slow… not sure there is much I can do about it at this point. Sorry.
But enjoy!
These are my Cow Chicks, Cowpoke Chicks, Cowpoke girls? What do you we call them? Who cares! They are my gang! (Rich is on the other side of the barn and not participating in the group photo btw, teenagers!)
When we got our mini donkey, Clarence a couple weeks ago we also picked up a couple new mini ponies. And I don’t think there are a bunch of kids anywhere in this world that can find more fun things to do with mini ponies than my gang!
(See also Labor Day Weekend, How to Bomb Proof a Pony, and My Favorite Time of Year.)
First we had a mini rodeo. Here is my Little Cowgirl’s bareback ride. Ah, Little ChubChubs! What a good ol’ boy! (28 seconds)
My Native Boy may not get best time for his bareback ride, but he does get points for best dressed and maybe some for comedic value? What do you think? (27 seconds)
Billie is a super good horse trainer and she likes to teach each of my ponies to bow and lay down.
Good boy, Paint Boy.
Clarence was definitely the high light of the weekend. My Little Cowgirl decided she wanted a “jumping donkey.” So the lessons commenced. Mostly Clarence teaching the girls in a quiet, serious, calm way, that you better hold on tight or you’ll land on your butt. (8 seconds)
Gives a new definition of grabbing hide! (7 seconds)
Freedom nearly stayed on! (8 seconds)
This is by far my favorite! I could watch the first 3 seconds over and over all day! Her face as she is flying over the donkey head! Priceless! (11 seconds)
As per request from my biggest fan (my mother - hi mom!) Here is the freeze frame of a priceless face!
I was taking the video with my iPad, so after each filming we had to watch the footage. And Clarence came over to watch the videos as well! He was fascinated!
Which gave Rich the Genius idea of playing a donkey braying on her phone! Oh my goodness I don’t think I have laughed so hard in months!
Ok I lied, this one is much more effective with sound! (54 seconds.)
Just keeping it real. This was one of my carts at Walmart this weekend.
If you are looking for a real good mini pony we have a couple we could part with. My Little Cowgirl doesn’t want me to list them yet, so I haven’t. But if you call me looking for one… I just might have one (or two) I could show you.
I’ll be talking to you soon! Thanks for joining me here at the barnyard!
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Let go of the rope
February 2, 2015
Meet Dallas, she was my first show heifer. And this is me, circa 1996. Nice huh? Can you say awkward and gawky? Ha! I bet my face would have been less sunburned had I worn my hat the right way!
Well Dallas - or the Big D - as we often called her taught me to “Let go of the rope!”
In the process of halter breaking her I would take her out to her pasture for walks. One day during peak irrigation time we headed out, the water was getting a little deep in the field, maybe knee high, but it was hot and I thought heck, get a little swim and walk my heifer, double win!
Turns out Big D wasn’t up for a swim that day, she headed back to drier pastures and I hung on to the rope - for a little while. She drug me through the water and I came up choking, spitting and pulling crawdads out of my hair. Only to look up and find a truck load of high school boys stopped on the road watching my humiliating heifer-walking-turned-water-skiing-adventure.
Groan.
Moral of the story - let go of the rope.
Yep, wasn’t winning any fashion awards that year!
Here is my show steer Freshman year, still no fashion awards but I did win reserve grand champion market beef over all for the Big Horn County Fair that year! Yay me!
County Fair and showing animals was a family affair. My brother Jared showed steers a couple years.
And remember my hunky brother Matt? Yeah he was hunky even when he was 11. Here he is giving his steer a bath under the tree in the yard.
My sister showed steers and sheep and horses too, but I couldn’t resist sharing this picture of her and a live water snake from when we were kids.
Can you say country?
Bring on the next generation of show steers, country kids and county fair! Meet “Wild Eye.” My Little Cowgirl’s 4-H steer.
We started halter breaking him a few weeks ago.
Little Cowgirl was so excited to get to pet him! She says he’s VERY soft.
I thought about doing an informational blog post about “How to Halter Break a Steer. "
Instead I will just show you this picture and let you connect the dots.
At least I know when to let go of the rope!
And before I say good bye, I better show you a puppy picture, this is the blue merle male, he’s the cuddler. The pups are just 9 days old and ready for their second photoshoot! New photos are up!
Thanks for joining me on this walk down memory lane!
Come back soon! ~ Erin
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