Day 3 for Murphy

Murphy is definitely going to make me a better horseman. I will really have to step it up to make him "be all he can be". He has the attention span of a Bartlet Pear. Never stops moving, but forgets 2 feet later why he was moving and scares himself. He does not show any tendencies to kick or strike. Once I get his feet stopped, he is very sensible. But they don't stop very often. He is mortified of anything that flaps from a small rag to a saddle blanket. He seems fine with ropes any where around him, but nothing that flaps....


The flies and mosquitoes here are driving him crazy. He runs and kicks all evening and is covered with hives in the morning. On a positive note it helps with contact as it feels so good for me to pet him. But I feel so bad seeing how frustrated he is. I have to get a fly sheet on him! That was my goal today.

I started by moving him to the round pen and advancing my ground work. After some preparatory rope work I was able to get a surcingle on him.... sans the saddle pad which he still will not touch. It was close to 100 here so after a good work I figured it was a good time to introduce the water hose. I tried it on day 2 and he almost jumped out. Today was a success. By the end he was standing quite and even trying to drink from the hose..... here is Murphy after his first bath.











I came back in the afternoon and picked up where I left off. The morning session and bath really helped.... Here is Murphy sporting a brand new fly sheet. I hope he realizes what it is for. LOL I don't know how I will get it off..... the Velcro sound is very unacceptable to Murf the smurf! But he likes the color and the 'new car smell' the plastic has. NOT!

Murphy's first day

Murphy walked out of the trailer like he had done it all his life. We got stuck in the Hwy 80 night repairs road closure so had to sleep in Boomtown which was completely full because of Hot August Nights. Murphy's Law! So we spent 24 hours in the trailer. I was so impressed he had no problem drinking out of a bucket.... I have had mustangs take a week just to walk by a bucket. And never shied at the semi's driving by with in 2 ft.

He is awesome. What a great looking horse! This is truly going to be a buckaroo's horse. He neck is a little thick but so is the rest of him. And he is going to be a mover..... As the old cowboy said to me "There ain't enough land or cattle around here to get that horse tired". Boy that is a fact. I wondered how he could get so muscled up in the BLM corrals... now I see He NEVER stops moving. Always walking and looking, very busy.... going to be hard to keep his attention!

I was hoping to break Ima's record of being pet 20 minutes out of the trailer. That didn't happen in fact after 45 minutes I was getting worried about the trainablilty of this horse. I changed my tactics and once I finally got my hands on him things started moving quickly. :) Within an hour we were taking pictures of our selves. Sorry my arms aren't longer.

The end of a very eventful and expensive trip (Did I mention I had to buy 3 more tires?)

and the first chapter in Murphy's big adventure!!

Murphy gets his name

As I prepared to leave.. everyone asked me where my horse was from.... which in mustang language means which HMA. I was excited to find out also because prior to leaving I had studied the Utah HMA's and their horses and so I had just enough knowledge to be dangerous. I dug the papers out of my bag of BLM goodies and .......... Three Fingers.... Vale, Oregon. WHAT!!! Yes I drove to Utah passing 3 closer BLM holding facilities to pick up my Utah horse who is from Oregon! Now that is Murphy's Law. I guess very few of the geldings in this contest where born in Utah..... Go figure.

So I walked up to the trailer to see my OREGON horse, I stepped up on the running board and said "Hey Murphy how ya doing." He looked at me and touched my hand like that had been his name all his life....... Well, I guess it will be now!!!!

I am exited to say that Murphy is taking to technology as fast as Ima did and he seems to have a sense of humor. To keep him busy on the long drive home I showed him how to use the camera.











The first thing he wanted to see was "Utah in the Rear View Mirror". I told him the song was about Texas and he said.. wild horse don't know state lines......

Here's another shot of what you get to look at for 6oo miles if you come watch me in the finals on November 7 in Heber City, Utah.

Murphy cracked me up when he took this picture for all his new friends in California who have never seen this while pulling a trailer...... (For all you non-Californians the speed limit for trailers is 55 in CA, 75 in NV and UT). Murphy's law every time I come home from a road trip I get a speeding ticket in CA. LOL

Salt Lake City Wild Horse Corrals

Tired, cold and 14 hours late it felt good to see:











As soon as I got out of the truck, I knew it was worth the trip! What a great bunch of Horseman! The weather was temporally perfect. News reporters, friends, family, MMO trainers, MHF staff, BLM wranglers and everyone smiling, laughing excited to see each trainers horse.











I filled out the paperwork and was informed I was getting a solid brown 4 year old gelding w/a very small white star, no other white. Tag number 7392. As I looked over the corrals from the catwalk, I could not see the tag numbers but I saw 2 identical brown geldings in the pen.... Identical except for one thing..... one was sound a sleep in the middle of the pen, head down in the shade of another horse. One was running up and down the fence very up set about the horses that had already been loaded and gone. Which one was mine? Murphy's Law told me













And here he comes down the chute. Halter on with out incident and right into the trailer.....

Here We Go Again

Life has been just to busy to get on here and fill you in. I don't know how Ima had so much time to write. After reading the rules for the Mountain Valley EMMO in Heber City, Utah I decided it might be worth taking the change and competing again. I like the way their thinking. Other then the high possibility of bad weather, the Heber City Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Festival looks like a must see event. Check out their website and come on over.

After just 5 days into this deal I have figured out I need to get a new set of friends! I emailed all my close horseman about entering...... I think in hindsight actually looking for someone to talk me out of it. Couldn't find a one! After that trip I need friends with better common sense!

The finals will be November 7 in Heber City near Salt Lake City. So of course I had to drive to SLC to pick up my horse. Since I have a brand new pick-up truck and a fairly new trailer with brand new hubs, drums the works. I figured now would be the time to do something like this. I looked for a couple of co-pilots but everyone was busy (with their horses of course). So I took my faithful dog!

Here's where the fun began. I watched the weather and it said 80 from Sac to SLC. Weeeeeeee! no heat wave. What I didn't pay attention to was 'isolated thundershowers'. The whole state of Neveda is isolated. Murphy's law! I hit Reno with the wipers on and did not turn them off until Utah. High Wind Warnings for 100's of miles.... What was I thinking!! What should have been a 10 hour trip.. was 14 hours of misery and I was only to Wendover (120 miles from SLC). And low and behold an over site on my part 15 miles from Wendover I peel the treat off a trailer tire. I limped into Wendover, stayed in the truck stop until 8am when the tire place opened... so the fancy business card said....

This is the 'fancy' tire shop outside of Wendover. Murphy's law it was the biggest week of the year in Wendover..... Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt flats Speedway. There was 700 cars racing 5 miles past this tire shop.... Who would guess... He had 1 tire left that would fit my trailer.

The highly qualified tire repair man (who even slept in the tire repair office.... the one up on blocks.. told me all my tires were weather cracked and said: "I sure hope you get where you are going with those". Murphy's Law!

I thanked him and drove back to the highway here is what I saw as I looked left and right for traffic:

SLC here I come........