Those in the picture are not wild horses. They belong to my neighbor. They are the wife's old barrel racing mare who became a brood mare. Their one and only pack mule. A 4 year old cow horse gelding. A 3 year old mare who has just been started. And a long yearling gelding. That neighbor has 12-15 horses. He is horseback 4 or 5 days a week this time of year moving cows. You go through a lot of horses doing that.We saw alot of wild horse on our trip out west this year. First time we got to see them close. Pretty neat to still see free ranch or open range whatever it's called. Seems the government is always wanting bigger instead of budgeting and finding ways to better the earth and world. More concrete more buildings less trees less farm land. Just my opinion.
Sorry but not too thrilled about free help. Spend too much time and money teaching them or at least getting them to stay out of the way. It is not what people think or dream that it is. But thanks for the offer.
In the neighbors case he is the family cowboy. It is a long time family operation. One very active 92 yo grandmother but she doesn't ride anymore. Two aunts in their 60's who no longer ride. Dad is in his 60's will ride when needed but generally brandings and bigger gathers. Two cousins and sister all moved away. So he is it for the younger generation. The good side of things is he doesn't spend much time sitting in a tractor seat making hay this time of year.
I have about 60 acres on the other side of the road. It is not connected to the rest of the place. It is all steep rocky ground. Not any use to me. There is a spring so there is a little water. In the spring the neighbor runs 5 or 6 yearlings and 2 year olds over there for a couple months. They learn to get around on that nasty ground before they do it with someone on there back. Here they don't use horses raised on flat pastures or even rolling hills. They want horses from the nasty country. They also use dogs that will range out a long ways to gather cows.
