Long Days
It’s been a long few days. It snowed again all last night… May 22nd in Wyoming. It’s hard to believe. There hasn’t been much to do as far as the horses are concerned. The snow and mud has kept us from riding the last couple days, so we’ve been driving over to Crowheart (about 2 hours away over the mountain pass) to get trailer loads of hay. It’s a lot of hard work… loading 200 bails of hay that each way around 70 lbs gets tiring really quickly. I’ve probably driven over to Crowheart about five or six times the last two weeks. Yesterday, we also picked up nine horses from the pasture out in Crowheart and drove them to a ranch out in Riverton. They are going to be shipped up to Canada to the slaughter house. It was pretty sad… it was hard catching them and loading them onto the trailers, knowing they were going to be sent to the slaughter house. The other wranglers called them “killers.” When we loaded them onto the trailer, it started to rain and there was a lot of lightning. A bunch of the horses were stomping, galloping around, and neighing really loudly. It was kind of surreal…
I went riding on Monday with two of the other wranglers. We rode up Suicide trail in the morning and then up this trail called Clearbox in the afternoon. Both of them are narrow trails about a foot and a half wide that go straight up the hill sides. We got to the top of Clearbox and hit snow about 3 or 4 feet deep… where there wasn’t snow, there was just deep mud and marshes. One of the horses sank both of its back two legs all the way into one of the marshes. It was literally sitting on the ground. It bucked for about 30 seconds and finally got out. We lost the trail in the woods and were riding through deep snow and trees for a long time. All the horses had cuts on their legs, and it was tiring. Without a doubt in my mind, it was the roughest riding I’ve ever done. All the horses had their share of bucking, sliding, and tripping through the rough terrain. It definitely gave me a lot more confidence though… something that I’ve been searching for.
I’d appreciate prayer for one of my friends - she was in a bad car accident yesterday and was blessed to make it out alive. She crushed her heel and cut her hand really bad… other than that, she’ll be fine. She won’t be able to walk for a couple months though. Please pray for her. The guy that was in the other car didn’t make it. Pray for courage and strength, as well as healing. She’s been through a lot. I thank God that she’s still with us though.
Published on 22 May 2008 at 9:29 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under Wyoming.
Hey Philip. I’m praying for you as you are on your adventure! Be safe and I shall see you in August. God bless~
Timothy on 2 Jun 2008 at 11:54 pm.
Hi Philip, Ran onto your website and have been reading some about you. Are you presently working at the Turpin Meadow Ranch? Our family will be visiting there the week of 7-14 June. Do you work with the visitors? Just wondering ………conversation………. Interesting reading your journal pages.
Gary
Gary on 4 Jun 2008 at 8:22 pm.
hey Philip, I really like your blog. I was born in Germany and lived in Turkey the longest–I also love to travel. I also love your pictures–keep up your great work.
How are you still liking college?
Lydia on 6 Jun 2008 at 11:59 am.