Starting TB's in a box stall

It was the norm that racehorses were started in a box stall in a barn. The theory being that in the seclusion of the stall, there were no outside distractions to spook the horse, they were less likely to buck with out having room to so and they certainly couldn’t run off and hurt themselves. So in the stall they were saddled, and the rider got on, and let them move about the stall at will and to get used to having someone on their back.

This one horse was pretty hot… but this black guy was very good at starting race horses. They got the horse saddled, and closed up the stall doors and left the black guy alone with the horse. Pretty quick there was this explosion of commotion and banging that came from the stall… it was like the Tasmanian Devil himself was in there tearing the barn down… the fellers on the outside looked at each other in disbelief fearful that the black guy was going to be dead when the dust finally settled. But on and on it went… the crashing and bangin and dust was oozing out the cracks in the wooden walls… finally after what seemed like an eternity they hollered to the black guy… “Are you alright”? and the black guy hollers back… yessah, I’ze ahlright…

They looked at each other in disbelief and as the clanging and crashing continued they mustered the nerve to crack the top half of the door and peek in… there was the black guy safely perched in the rafters, flogging the horse round and round… “yessah, I’ze ahlright”…

Selling Louie LaClaire's grey bronc

Louie LaClaire from Warm Springs had a horse sale at the Redmond Auction yard and sold 80 head of horses he had consigned there. He hired Ansel and Jim Stirewalt to ride them all through the ring for him. He had a few other guys that would bring the horses up and keep them saddled so Jim and Ansel just had to get on every other one and ride them through the ring.

Ansel described how he and Jim would sell the horses. ( a Livestock Sales ring has a large IN door on one side and a second OUT door on the other) He said you rode the horse saddled into the small sales ring and after you turned the horse around a few times in the sales ring, you pulled your saddle off and set it down beside the IN door, then led the horse around the sales ring until it sold, then you led it out the OUT door. Jim would ride the next horse in, someone would have picked up your saddle to put on the next horse. So they each rode every other horse though the sale.

It was all going like clock work until this big good looking grey horse came up through the line.

Louie said the ole grey would buck some so they'd have to be careful… so Ansel immediately announced with authority that Jim could ride him. He figured it was all settled, since Jim didn’t say anything.

Darned if the next time he went out to get on his next horse, and there was the grey horse with his saddle on him and Jim was already in the ring. That bugger Jim he mused. He said he thought about it for a minute, and realized it would mess things up if he balked, so he decided he could probably steel a ride on him and get him sold.

So he ended up riding him in the sale ring turned him around a few times, and then he stepped off, and pulled his saddle with out any problems. The grey horse was a real good looking one, and ended up being the high selling horse.

Then next day Ansel got a call from the guy that had bought the big grey horse and said he wanted Ansel to come out to his ranch and ride him ‘cause he’d already bucked off four of his best cowboys.

Ansel said, Nope, he wouldn’t do that beins those cowboys that got bucked off had spoiled him and trained him to buck, an he wasn’t going to get bucked off.

Smuggling Mexico Money

Ansel remembers in the 40’s there was a limit to how much money you could legally bring out of Mexico into the US… Ansel forgot how much the limit was, probably $25,000 a year he guessed. There was a guy in Mexico that had a lot that he wanted to bring in, so he had a scheme of smuggling the money in through canner horses. He got everything he was going to smuggle in U.S. $1000.00 bills. He’d take 5 of the $1000.00 bills and wrap them in plastic folded just once lengthwise, then he’d slit the skin under the mane and put 5-$1000. wrapped in plastic and folded lengthwise in the incision, crudely stitch them up, and put them on a truck to be taken to a slaughter house in Arizona. Then there was someone in the Arizona slaughter house that would take the bills out. They used 17000 head of horses to smuggle the money through the kill plant. ($85,000,000 million)

Louie Krentz’ mother lived on the US – Mex border in Douglas AZ and knew about the 17000 horses that came across the border and 12000 head of cattle. Louie Krentz’ mother lived on the ranch on the border that their father homesteaded. Louie was a high roller, he furnished the money for Ansel to buy yearlings to run on the ranch in Harney Co. Ansel got half of the gain increase. Louie was living in San Bruno at the time, he and a another fellow were partners on a race horse. He also had an amusement center, pin ball machines and such. Ansel had the Lawen and Burns property at the time and ran an ad in the Western Livestock Journal classifieds looking for someone to run steers on a percent of gain on the Harney ranch. Louie responded to Ansel’s add and that’s how they became friends. When there was air service into Burns, Louie would fly up just to hunt ducks for the weekend at Lawen. Louie’s brother was 1st Vice President for the Bank of Arizona, Mackelvany borrowed 32 million one year to run cattle just outside of Yuma. And he lent Smith Company 8 million to build a slaughter house in PHX. He must have been pretty important.

A fellow jockey found alive and well in Culver, OR

Carl Johnson
Small world. A couple of weeks ago friend Paul Carter was in Culver on some real estate business and stopped at the Round Butte Inn to ask for directions. The waitress that he asked, directed him to a little old man at the end of the bar. The man was Carl Johnson and he very helpful, and given his small stature and age Paul inquired if he ever rode race horses, and sure enough he did, and not only did ride races horses he knew Ansel. Turns out he worked for Harry Walters at Prineville the same time Ansel did. Ansel was/is 4 years older than Carl, and Carl idolized Ansel. He was so excited to hear that Ansel was still alive.

So Paul and I thought it would be fun to surprise Ansel with meeting Carl, and on Wednesday we told Ansel we were going out for lunch and drove him up to Culver. Carl had lots more memories of Ansel, than Ansel did of Carl, that was probably due to the fact that Carl looked up to and idolized Ansel, and to Ansel who was a newly wed at the time, Carl was just another kid.

Carl lives a few blocks from the Round Butte Inn (it’s a tavern) and he’s part of the wall paper literally. He walks down most afternoons for happy hour and has a couple of beers. He is very proud that he has helped decorate the place with antique pictures from area.

Carl and Ansel reminisced about the great horse Harry had named ________ (I’ll get back to this)

The only memory Ansel has of Carl, was when Harry Walters purchased a stallion named Beeson. He was supposed to be very well breed, and they had a devil of a time, getting him to breed any mares. Ansel remembers the first time they tried to breed him, that it took four handlers, four hours… that the stallion did everything wrong, until he finally figured out where things were supposed to go.
Someone had started a bush track here in Bend that ran for a couple of years, he remembers he and Carl coming over to watch the horses

Pate's "Mimi" and the Dustin Pedroia baseball

Tuesday night Ranger Pate brought his mom “Mimi” over to meet us. I’m embarrassed to admit, that now that I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I never got her name… only “Mimi”. She was really excited to hear that I am a Mimi too. My mimikid - Taylor happened to call me while we were cooking dinner, she was looking for her first school fundraiser pledge from me (she's in kindergarten). As the evening went on it made me smile to hear Pate's mom refer to him as “Pat”. We only know him as Pate so it's odd to hear him called Pat. I remember that my mother never accepted my changing the spelling of the name she had given me…

Pate's Mimi flew up to Oregon from Winters, CA to spend the week visiting with Pate and his brother Tim. It was a delight to finally meet her. She is a charming eclectic city gal doing remarkably well at 80 and still living and traveling on her own.

We had a very enjoyable evening with bbq’d steaks and an avocado salad. Pate brought a yummy cherry cobbler for dessert. Paul joined us also. Who took the picture you ask??? I have a time delay button on my camera. This is one of like 6 pictures. They were all good sports to keep smiling.

My #15 Dustin Pedroia surprise

Those of you who know me well, know that I'm a huge Boston Red Sox fan. Being raised on Cape Cod, it was in my genes... I remember my mother going to bed every game night with a transistor radio under her pillow. When I was in school cable wasn't an option, and there weren't many baseball games that were televised on TV. But the few that were, I can still hear my mother yelling at the TV and the Sox coaching staff.

The last couple of years I have been especially excited about Jacoby Ellsbury, from podunk Madras Oregon who went through the Red Sox farm system. Last year Jacoby was called up and I started listening to the Sox games on the internet. Pate stopped by one time while I was either watching a game on TV or listening, and in my excitement a conversation came up about Jacoby... and he told me that he was interested to watch Red Sox rookie #15, Dustin Pedroia, since he knew Dustin's family in CA. Pedroia had a really rough start in April 2007, but got the bugs out and began shining in May and never slowed down... as the season progressed, when ever Dustin had great game, I'd let Pate know about it... and soon enough I was a Pedroia fan too. It was amazing watching these two rookies make such a difference in this historic team. Then they were in the Playoffs and the World Series, with both Ellsbury and Pedroia as integral players in each game. With these young fire crackers astounding us each game, the Sox won the 2007 World Series and Dustin Pedroia was named Rookie of the Year.

So it turns out that Pate's mom knows Dustin's grandmother real well... they are neighbors in Winters, CA. I think I also remember Pate saying that he went to school with Debbie, Dustin's mom. Anyway, Pate cooked up a surprise for me and had his mom shop for and find an official MBL baseball (made in the USA, she said this wasn't an easy feat, as most of them she found were made in China), she gave it to Dustin's grandmother, who to carried it back to Boston a few weeks ago to have Dustin sign it just for me at the Red Sox home opener at Fenway Park. How cool is this !!! I am so honored to have the momento. I smiled and thought of Velma, (my mother) when I saw that he signed it "to Cindy" and his autograph and #15.

Thanks Pate and Mimi !!!! I love it and will treasure it !!!!

%%%

Janey Kitty

Many years ago in Burns, like 1993, I got a feisty little Manx kitten from Todd and Debbie Titus, who were living at the Sand Hill feedlot. At the time I was living at the first place on Hutchenson Rd., 11 miles SE of Burns near Lawen. At the end of 1994, we made a deal to sell our place, and Eric and I would move into “the barn” (80 ac down the road, with an apartment built inside a barn) which came with two huge feral tom cats. One of my best friends, Cindi, had lost her pet cat tragically, and she had vowed to never ever have another… With my impending move, I talked her into adopting Janey, since I was afraid the feral tom cats at the barn would either kill her or run her off.

Janey has spent most of her life as a barn cat, with occasional in-house privileges over the years. Janey has her own little quirks, like she adored my 88 Honda Civic and as soon as I would arrive home, she’d immediately hop on the bumper and walk up the middle of the hood and sit in front of my windshield meoyowling at me to get out. And when she heard my voice she would meoyowl and come to rub my legs. After I gave her to Cindi, every time I visited (which was often) she'd always came running for the Honda as soon as I parked, hop on the bumper and deliberately walk up the hood and sit in front of the windshield. If she wasn't there when I arrived, by the time I left she was sure to have left her paw prints, if she wasn't still sitting there on the car. It was as if she wanted to leave her little paw prints on the car, her own signature. Funny she never did do that to any of my pick ups, just that red Honda Civic. When Cindi moved to PDX in 2000, Janey moved too. After the advent of cell phones, Cindi would put the phone down for Janey and I to merowl at each other... For the past few years Janey had been living with Cindi’s horse James at her sister’s rural Corbett place that just sold… long story short, since she was going to have to move Janey, Cindi thought Ansel might enjoy having a pet cat of his own to hang out with him and call his own. (since I have Lucy)

So last weekend when I picked up the truck, I also picked up Janey from Cindi and brought her to Bend to give to Ansel.

When I started out, she was in a small cat carrier, and she cried and cried... when I got to I-5, I stopped and put her in Lucy's big crate thinking that would be more comfortable for her, but she yowled non stop and I made it about 15 miles and pulled over and let her out of the crate all together and gave her the free run of the pickup… and then she became a very nice traveling companion. (I had left Lucy in Bend)

When we got to Bend… she immediately bonded with Ansel and he with her. When I asked him what he thought of her, he said "she's a darling, she's a very sweet barn cat". He said that smiling, because I had insisted before I went to get her that she was not a house cat, she was a barn cat. She has made herself at home.
Although she hates Lucy… and I’m sure she thinks it’s an insult that she has to put up with another puppy. Lucy isn’t exactly thrilled with Janey’s arrival either, as it means more outside kennel time and inside crate time for her. Pre-Janey she had the run of the place, except at bed time she went in the crate. I've been trying to give Janey some space to adjust to the new surroundings by keeping Lucy out of her hair. The picture below is their first meeting, and Janey has just boxed Lucy's ears back, and poor Lucy thinks she just encountered the Tasmanian Devil and doesn't dare move. They both stayed in the position for about 5 minutes, Lucy is stiff as a board, with every muscle tensed and her nails dug in the couch. Lucy is sporting a muzzle just for insurance.
Janey is 15 years old, but you’d never know it, she is very spry and must be on her 7th or 8th life. She has a very unique personality and talks a lot and tells you about every thing. For a barn cat… she certainly has made herself at home inside. ;-) (referring to my declaration to Ansel that she would be a barn cat)

Friday irrigation water was turned on

We are fortunate to have irrigation water rights and get the water delivered from the Swalley Irrigation Co. via a ditch runs through the property between the house and the barn adding some ambiance to the place. There is usually water running in it from March to October. There are a couple of bridges over it that are neat. The draw back is every year the pine cones, needles and leaves need to be cleaned out of it. This year I tried burning the stuff, which was almost as labor intensive as just pitching it into the tractor bucket to be taken to the burn pile.

Cousin Tucker inspects the burning process

The first two years I was here when the water was turned on, it would fill the pond and overwhelm it and flood the horse paddocks from the initial volume of the water in the ditch making a big mess. Last year i got smart and built a flood irrigation type dam at the entrance to the pond to prevent the initial ditch waters from going in the pond and voiahl-lah... no flooding. Then the next day after the waters leveled out, I could pull the dam and fill the pond. I learned this from my early ranch days working for the Willis' in Vale, Oregon Success

Lucy the water dog -

On a different note, most cow dogs enjoy cooling off in available water, whether it be a ditch, pond or trough... Dottie my last dog that was killed last summer, absolutely hated water and no matter how hot she got, would not get in the ditch or a trough. I assumed it was something in the breeding, and figured that Lucy being a full sister would be the same way... Friday the water came down the ditch for the season. I needed to do a lot of cleaning as there were several jams of debris. While I had worked really hard a few weeks ago to clean our ditches, obviously some upstream folks did not. While I was out there shoveling a pitching the crap out of the ditch, Lucy was chasing pine cones and sticks down the ditch. She didn't seem to have any inhibitions about the water at all and bailed in several times after stuff. While the day was nice weather-wise, the water was really cold.

Lucy was very intrigued by the water that has suddenly appeared in the ditch. She ran up and down the ditch very excited about the change of scenery. The tree hollow in the background is a foot bridge that granddaughter Taylor and I built (placed there) last year.

I was really surprised when Lucy acted like she might jump in the water... and a second later ... she dove in and came out with a stick. She was so pleased with her self. So then began the game of my throwing the stick in the ditch for her to chase down and get. A very pleased Lucy with her stick

I figured after her first plunge into the water, she wouldn't go in again. but she fooled me and went in several times. Then it was kind of funny when, she didn't realize the places that the pine needles and other stuff covered the water wasn't solid footing and she'd try to walk across and fall in. Lucy is 7 months old. She is a McNab stockdog, raised by my friends the Porter Willis' in Tracy, CA. Now I need to get the sprinkler pipe back together, flushed and running on the front pasture.