2 Teenage Girls Trampled By Mares At Local Horse Sale

^^I can see it in the headlines now!^^

(Just keep reading.)

Today was funnz. =D It was the spring horse sale!! The local sale barn has cattle sales every Monday, and horse sales four times a year. Well the spring sale was Friday and today.

Horse sales are real fun for me- tons of people we know we get to meet up with and chat with there. It's awesome, haha I can't hardly take three steps without going, "oh hey, I know what person". It's pretty cool. =)

So at 6:30 we were out loading horses. We sold 6 today. 2 mares- a palomino and a bay, that were givin fillies I think it was. 2 fillies- a 2 year old and a yearling, just not interested in them personally for brood mares. Jose- a chestnut ranch horse, who has a suspensary ligament injury and is probably permanently lame. And Mitch. Mitch is a big stout feller, gentle, handles real fair, but gets sore in the left front when ridden too hard. Well the way we need to ride horses out here on the ranch, he just wouldn't do, so we had to sell him. =(

I was pretty heartbroken because I have a love-hate relationship with horse sales. Today was the "junk horse" sale. On Friday, they have the catalog sale, and you have to pay a certain fee to get your horse in the catalog, which has a short description as well as the bloodlines. The stuff people don't want to pay to get in the catalog, sells on Saturday, and is usually junk although a few good horses go through there.

It's a sad deal, because they are shutting down the kill shelters. Now I know this is a very touchy subject. I jsut think that only the permanently injured horses should be humanely put down (meaning the kill shelters should have better conditions) and that people need to feed their animals and take care of them properly. But nope we have too many idiots running around the place for that. Jerks. Which is the sad part. But I won't dwell on that.

I just hung around a little while after getting the horses unloaded and in the pens and the paperwork and Coggins and everything worked out, then Sara showed up and I hung around with her. Then we went and caught Mitch and I got to ride him through the ring. =D We had several people asking about him, and they all seemed like pretty decent people. I was praying really hard (silently of course haha) that the Lord could let him go to somebody who took care of their animals and had a good heart and would care for Mitch properly. He had never been in town or around so much excitement, so he was pretty excited. Once he kinda rammed my leg against the fence... Uh yeah it's kinda sore. I'll live. Anyway, in the ring he was good. We made some nice sharp turns and he went for $1325 which is great!! After he sold I went and got Jose and as I was standing in the alley waiting my turn in the ring, a lady walked up to me and started asking me about Mitch. Turned out she had bought him and was wanting some information on him.

The Lord is good! She wanted to use him for trail riding and pleasure riding, needed him to be gentle, but he wouldn't be ridden hard or super often. A perfect home for Mitch! =)

Anyway, then Sara and I led the fillies through. I led the yearling and she led the 2 year old. The yearling was giving me heck, running into me, sometimes snapping at me, walking all over me, and freaking out. Of course I can't blame her; she's young and all that stuff was just overwhelming. So in the ring I just kinda turned her around a few times then turned her loose. Sara did the same. Then came the mares.

Ohhhh joy.

We had to tie them up with halters in the pen, because that dadgummed palomino mare will kick the snot outta anything she can. Sara had the palomino mare and was leading her behind me, meaning I of course had the bay. Well up the winding alley we went... The alley was closed off by a gate, and right by the gate was a gelding, me thinks, tied to the fence. A guy was standing there and said, "Oh he's alright, he won't do nothing to bother you." I was thinking, "Well he might not kick, but that mare does for sure." Sure enough, I walked by the gelding to open the gate, and the palomino kinda freaked out and pinned her ears at the gelding then whirled to kick him. The bay got spooked of course and kicked and pinned her ears and I just ran into the corner about to jump the fence because I was about to get kicked or bitten by one of the three somehow. But then it all calmed down and I rammed that latch open so hard and man was I glad to be outta there! That was danged near an accident, Sara and I were both kinda spooked, man... Whooee.

And then standing right there in line, there was a young stallion (Arabian it seemed) in a pen. And right across the fence were a bunch of mares. What idiot did that?! You don't put a stallion right by a bunch of mares, especially when a couple of 'em are in heat. As you can imagine that stallion was goin kinda wild and my mare was getting a wee bit excited herself.

But we survived. Barely. Ole bay gal did step on my foot. Coulda been worse. Aren't'cha glad I survived to tell the tale? I bet. Accidents happen all the time at that sale barn. A couple weeks ago Dave got bucked off recieving a concussion and a some stitches to the back of his head. 2 days before that, Sterling got it too and impaled his leg on the fence, then that got infected. See? Happens all the time. But we is safe. We is sound. We is not in the newspaper.

Nothing too exciting happened with the exception of those mares. Sara and I had a Dr. Pepper and a package of mini chocolate donuts for breakfast. =D Then we had a cheeseburger and fries for lunch... Yeah it wasn't that exciting. I still had fun though =D I saw Dave, Dickie, Shana, Brett, the Pierce boys, Mike, Clay, just alot of people we know. So that was cool...

But today the shooting sports team also came out to shoot. Well I went to the horsesale instead, but it's okay because the range is still set up here and I can shoot plenty of times just whenever. But Brett had bought a horse and since he lives only about 10 miles from us, we just loaded up the horse and went to his place with his wife, stepson, and we met Mama on the highway and took her too. We were there a little over an hour, and came back home. Well Mama had left the ranch Chevy at the cattleguard (she had to get to the highway somehow) so I jumped in it. It's a stick shift so it's fun to drive. =D Well I thought the team was still at the rang up at the big shop, so I high tailed it up there to find... Nobody. Hmmm. Niiiice. So back down it was and everybody was about to leave.

Well anyway they did and now I'm sitting here eating carrots with Ranch dressing and... writing this out. Not a very interesting post just kinda typing out whatever comes to me. Well, I better git then. Still need names for the birdie!! I shall now bit adieu and stop snacking and go eat lunch. Au revoir!!

In His Grip,
Ranch Kiddo