Horse-back Riding in the Foothills of a 14er

We're way behind in getting travel posts published because we were having way too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 21, 2023

During our month near Buena Vista, Colorado, we've enjoyed spending time with one of Mark's cousins and his wife. Wyatt manages a ranch nearby, and he had asked if we were interested in helping some day when he was riding horses. Well of course we would be interested! So he called us when he had to move a herd of cattle to a new pasture. We got to the ranch at 7:30 a.m., and Wyatt already had our horses saddled.

Mark rode Hooch, one of the tallest horses on the ranch. Hooch had a great personality and was a delight to ride for a day.

Denisa rode Reno, and Wyatt explained that he had a soft mouth. That meant that he responded well to reining, even when he might know more where we should go than his rider. Reno was the horse you put your least-experienced rider on, and that would be a good description of Denisa. 

Mark helped to get Denisa's stirrups adjusted on her saddle. It seemed that Denisa was a lot shorter than the last cowboy that used that saddle.

We were joined by four other riders that were the opposite of "least experienced." These were friends with horses, but no cattle. So they liked to give their horses some real experience with cattle. Plus, they were good friends of Wyatt's that enjoy helping him out in this beautiful place.

The goal for the day was moving 130 head of cows (and their 130 calves) from the forest service grassland where they had been for the last couple months. Local ranchers can lease pasture from the forest service, who are very particular about getting the cattle off the land by a specific day. This was the day that all those cattle and calves had to be moved onto a second forest service grass section. So we trailered our horses to the trail head where we took our very first mountain hike when we arrived in Buena Vista several weeks ago.

We were more familiar with rounding up a herd of cattle in the panhandle of Oklahoma where you don't have any trees. This day we must find 130 head of cattle in the Colorado forest.

We didn't take any pictures of the rides through the thickest trees. That's when we were hanging on for dear life, hoping not to be swept off the saddle by a branch. Denisa was also hoping that her horse would choose a path between the trees that was wide enough for the horse AND both her legs. We rode through sections of the forest where the trees were spaced too close together for comfortable horse-back riding! We only took pictures in the wide-open parts of the land.

The ranch dogs were helpful when we got in the thickest brush because they could encourage the cattle to keep moving when the horses could no longer follow them.

A good working dog deserved a drink and a little cool-off swim when we passed a stock tank or a creek.

This was our view for most of the day. Horse ears in the foreground, and a snow-tipped 14er mountain in the background.

We have wandered into more of God's wonders on a very special mode of transportation this day!

But this isn't just a joy ride through the pine trees with mountain views. We were working! We were here to find cows and calves that seemed to be hiding in the shade of the trees as the weather warmed up.

Once you found the cows, you tried to drive them to the only opening on this land--a narrow dirt forest service road through the trees.

But we found that the cows had a propensity for heading back into the trees where it was impossible to follow them on a horse. We had nine head of cows just a few feet away from us, but we couldn't actually see any of them. At times we had to dismount and trail them on foot to keep them moving in the right direction.

We had split up into smaller groups to find stragglers, and then brought as many as possible to one staging area. Then all the cowboys pushed this large group of cattle and calves to the new pasture. It was a bit dusty behind all those hooves.

Then we split up into groups again, to find more of the cattle hiding in the trees. Wyatt took the two green horns to search the boggy area. It might look like Wyatt was texting on his phone, but he was actually looking for cows.

Each one of these 130 cows wore a necklace that was actually a tracking device. You can see the gray and red device hanging from the cow's neck in the picture below.

Wyatt was looking at his phone screen to get an idea of where the cattle were, and we headed that direction.

Eventually the brush got too thick and the ground too boggy to ride a horse, so they were tethered in the shade.

Denisa had the easiest job of staying with the horses.

Mark and Wyatt took off into trees, and almost immediately they were out of sight.

This was the beaver pond section of the forest service lease land. It's a favorite place for cattle to graze, drink, and stay in the shade.

Besides finding some huge beaver dams, they also found the six head of cattle that we were looking for. They brought them out of the trees and mounted their horses to escort them to the new pasture.

By this time it was noon, and we stopped to eat the picnic lunch that Wyatt had brought. A few adjustments were needed for the horses and their equipment. That included using a little duck tape to repair a horse hoof. This rocky soil is brutal on hooves.

The GPS tracking on the cow necklaces wasn't perfect, but we knew the basic direction to head to find some more of the stragglers. We learned that you stay on the road as far as possible before heading into the dense forest to go hunting for cattle. It's a bit like an Easter egg hunt.

After bringing another group out of the forest, we split into smaller groups. Mark and Denisa seemed qualified enough to head into this section where four more head were hiding.

By the time we got that group deposited into the new pasture, we had ridden many miles put in about six hours on horseback. Denisa was saddle sore, and she announced that she couldn't possibly get back on her horse another time. Those short stirrups were a long ways from the ground, and she had to find a rock or a fence to climb in order to raise her foot high enough to get it into the stirrup. Then she had to lunge upwards with all her strength to grab the saddle horn and pull with all her might to get into the saddle. It was a hard thing to do at 8 a.m., and she deemed it was impossible to do it at all by 4 p.m. While the rest of the group was still out wrangling another group of strays, she laid down on the bed of the pickup.

It was fun to watch the cows exploring their new territory. Those fashionable necklaces on the cows help to track the cows, but they were also a part of an invisible fence system. While we had to ride around some old fences today, the new technology doesn't need a physical fence. 

Wyatt will reprogram the new boundaries, and if a cow approaches the electronic fence line she will get a mild shock. This little device will provide a shock that will get harder unless the cow turns around and stays within her new limits.

Cows and calves often get separated on a moving day. It was interesting to hear the two bawling, until they found each other and were reunited.

When the last group arrived, it was time to load the horses into the trailers for the trip back to the ranch. The horse with a broken hoof was a newly broken member from a wild mustang band. He wasn't practiced at getting into the horse trailer, so the cowboys were having to encourage him a little.

Back at the ranch, we took the saddles off to see that the horses had worked up a sweat on this working day.

As soon as they were out of the barn, they each rolled in the dirt.

These horses have a beautiful view every day from their pasture.

We went back to the barn to see the process of configuring the new electronic barriers for the herd. It looks like two cattle were on the wrong side of that electronic red line. So Wyatt will have to take a horse back to Chalk Creek tomorrow and move them into the new pasture. He invited us for another ride, but we were guessing that we wouldn't be able to get out of bed or walk tomorrow. Riding a horse seemed like an impossibility.

We had a good day with Hooch and Reno. They were patient horses, as were all of the cowboys. What a great day of horse-back riding in the foothills of a 14er! We've been blessed again!