Winter routine

I caught the team and hooked them to the regular wagon, loaded some extruded soybean and salt and a short handled shovel and drove up west. I mixed the bean and salt for the cattle and then walked and drove the team, so I’d get some exercise. It wasn’t that cold, about 30 or so but the wind was blowing some. I didn’t wear my insulated pants so the exercise helped warm me up. I took a different route home and checked out how much grass there is left. The cows were just sure I was going to give them some hay evidently as they followed me all the way back to the house. Sure fooled them!

I fixed up a couple of neck yokes and took a set of eveners and a neck yoke out to the bobsled which was across the road. Later in the afternoon I went and got the team and hooked them up to the bale wagon and moved it out of the way, then drove them across the road and hooked up to the bobsled and pulled it back to the shed so I could do some work on it. I unhooked and drove the team out of the way and tied them up and went back to work on the sled. Chance came out and gave me a hand. When we got it fixed we pushed it back from the door of the shed to where I had room to hook the team on. I got them, hooked up and drove over by a flatbed and we put it on the sled and then went for a little drive. There is snow and also small spots where there isn’t any snow, so they had to pull the sled on bare ground a little bit. It made for a good steady pull which is good for a team and especially these that are young and still learning, so they learn what a pull is. My grandfather would always hook a young horse he was starting to train, with an older broke horse and hook them to a mowing machine and cut hay, Dad said, as it gave them a good, steady pull to teach the youngster what to expect. A bobsled on dry ground does about the same and there is just enough snow to give them a little rest every little bit as they walk along.

The NFR started on Thursday night and we have a DVR now so I set it to record and went to bed. When I got up yesterday I checked and sure enough it had recorded the rodeo. I sat and watched the broncs and fast forwarded thru’ all the commercials and every thing else. It was great!