Our New Dirty Word – SNOW (&*%#)

The new four letter word around this outfit is … SNOW! With about 10 days of thawing in the last two months, the &*%# is still hock deep to a tall horse. The plowed trails the cows have  been living on and eating in are now muck bordered by berms of melting &*%#. Most of the cows are calving cheek by jowl, with curious cows investigating their every move and sound. Like them, I’d be cranky and want to fight, too! Unfortunately, when a brave cow ventures across the frozen wasteland she can’t find anyplace to drop her calf but in a &*%#bank.

We’ve discovered a new gait on our horses. It’s the &*%# trot, which is a high step that breaks the crust on the upward stroke, a downward plunge through the soft under &*%#, a slight delay as the subcrust breaks before the hoof sinks into soft under under &*%#. The rhythm reminds me of a  four year old playing a jack-in-the-box. The horses seem to prefer it to their other gaits, maybe because a lope is simply a high lunge they can’t keep up for long and they can’t seem to keep up enough momentum if they slow to a walk.

Better to ride than walk, however. I got stuck in the &*%# the other day – not in a vehicle but on foot.  My left foot plunged crotch deep and my right thigh deep…and there I was until I tipped forward and belly crawled. Sonny said he thought about coming to my aid but decided it was more fun to watch than participate!

We have a great the trail to bring cows with problems to the corrals. It’s not hard to keep them headed in the right direction- after a few steps in the &*%# they’re eager to turn back to  the trail.

We know we’re not alone in this. Though tempers are a bit frayed, we try to remember that the most important thing we can do is to take care of each other…it will all work out in the end.