WRANGLING ON THE RANGE #68
Sunday April 18th was a nice sunny and warm day. It seemed
like we were heading into Summer and that we had jumped over
Spring.
There was one large train ride going out at 1 pm. I was out
at the Ranch, had got Goldie all brushed down and looking mighty
good. Then into the box stall at barb "A" ready to lead out on the
1 pm ride.
Now Bob and his staff had done one very good move. They had
erected a metal round pen in the indoor arena of barn "A" - for
the horses that do not like to be tied up to the wall. Applejack
is one of them. They never get used to being tied to a solid ten
foot wall, and will "pull-back" when you go to bridle or saddle
them. The stable had just bought a new horse from the auction,
and though broke to ride, it obviously had never been tied to
face a solid wall. It had pulled back something fierce. Bob had
decided the best thing for these pull-back horses was to just put
them in a round pen in the middle of the bran, tied to nothing. I
thought to myself, now that is a bright and sensible way to solve
the problem.
As usual Goldie had not forgotten to use her nose to open
the box stall gate and the large iron gate into the arena. She's
like a kid with a new toy when it comes to doing this.
The 1 pm ride was a mixture of children and adults. Being a
nice day we would do a mainly in the sun ride. I chose to do the
reverse way around of the trail we do on a Friday afternoon
during the summer camp, for what we call "The Family Ride" (where
the camp kids and parents ride together for the last hour of that
week's camp).
I had a lady directly behind me, on the horse "Dopey" and
behind her was a child on a pony, tail-tied to Dopey. The Ranch
has been training some horses to "tail-tie" as the ones we had
were being retired. Not any horse will allow a pony's halter lead
rope to be tied to their tail. Most will just not allow it and
will kick the pony. So it takes a little skilled figuring which
horse will allow it, and of course there are a number of ways to
find out, without using a pony; naturally no one wants a pony to
be kicked.
The horse must allow its tail be to pulled and just not be
bothered by having something that might at times, pull on its
tail. So you use a small cart tied to the horses tail, far enough
back so if the horse does kick, it will only kick the air; you
can stop walking immediately. It may take a few times and then
the horse will not mind. Sometimes the horse does not mind even
the first time, and then you know you have a pretty good chance
you have found a "tail-tie" horse. With other horses the look in
their eyes, the ears back, and the kick .... you know this just
ain't going to work at all, and you go on to try another horse.
I got talking to the lady behind me out on the trail, and
one thing led to another as we conversed. She told me she had
some pain in her knees at times. She thought it was arthritis. I
asked if she had gone to the doctor to have it checked out. She
said she had not done so. So I told her my story.
I told her about 9 years ago I was getting this numb kind of
pain in the knees, not a sharp pain, and not a grinding pain. I
had told my dad about it while talking to him on the phone (he
lives about an 8 hour drive from me) and he said, "Son, you
probably have rheumatism, like I had at your age." So I went to
my doctor lady, and told her about it and what my Dad had said.
"Well Keith," said my doctor, "you may also have arthritis.
We better have you ex-rayed to see if it could be rheumatism."
So off I went to the hospital department for ex-rays. It was
a week later I was to come and see my doctor again. On arriving,
she told me the ex-rays showed it was NOT arthritis.
"I guess your Dad is correct Keith, you have rheumatism."
"Kinda thought so doc. So is there anything to help?" I
asked.
"Rheumatism is to do with the muscles, and yes, we may have
something. This new prescription pill has come out recently. It
is a muscle relaxant pill. I would like you to give it a try."
"Okay doc. I will," was my reply.
I told the lady that it was indeed the answer, and it worked
super well. I take 25 mg a day; if I have a bad day, which is
only now and again, I take 50 mg. And it sure does the trick as
they say.
So with my story told, I hope it helped her to go and find
out the discomfort she has in her knees.
All enjoyed their sunny ride out at the Ranch. I expect they will
all come back sometime.
With that ride in it was pretty well all done for the day. A
few "members" out riding still. I took Goldie back to barn "B" -
unsaddled her; I trimmed up her one back foot that I had not done
the previous Friday. Turned her out in the back corral, ready to
go out on the range with Applejack and the rest, when Bob and
his staff were finished.
I was time to head on home.
.....................
To be continued
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