October 24th, 2020, Volume 15, Issue 42

The snow is finally here! The ranch looks like a winter wonderland, as we got over a foot of snow last night. The horses had white eyelashes and everyone pulled out their winter gear.

Snowy Tucker

Chris our new handy man is from Texas and still getting used to this white stuff, along with our intern Levi who is from South Carolina. The rest of us here are seasoned veterans when it comes to snow, and are enjoying it. Sadly my little chevy cruz lacks the clearance to get around in too much fluffy stuff, but oddly enough I get up the hills better than everyone else’s trucks! So at least there’s that. Although my cruz might live at the Belgard for a few days while the snow clears up, ha!

Inside the arena, we’ve been lucky enough to have Tommy Kilgore out for a week to do a farrier clinic. Scott, Kevin and Levi have been spending everyday with Tommy going through the herd and learning how to shoe. It’s been really cool to hear all the stories Tommy has to tell and to hear about how they shoed each horse. The boys and Tommy have been showing us pictures of all the horse’s feet at dinner, and it’s been amazing to see all the changes in their feet, as well as the way they stand. On Friday, Emily, Maddie, Janice, Brenda, and I got to participate in a shoeing demo. It was incredibly interesting to see what Tommy looks for in a horse before he even begins the shoeing process, let alone the shoeing process itself! During the shoeing demo all I could think is how lucky we are that we get to learn from someone as great as Tommy. The same goes for Shayne and Des, we really have the best of the best to learn from and I’m forever thankful for that!

That’s all for this week,

Happy Trails,

Alyssa

 

Nigel moving cattle before the snow hit

 

Our coyote friend in the distance on a stump overlooking the herd

 

Dunny jingling in the snow!

 

Looking at the feet!