June 15, 2007 Yesterday one of my dreams came through. I had longed to go on a cattle drive for years and yesterday it finally happened. I had to get up at 4am, had to be in the stables at 4.30am to saddle my horse. We then loaded the horses and went over to another part of the farm where we picked up Brian and his horse. There was me, Tray (the livestock manager), his seven year old son Hugh, Brian and Sarah (a veterinary student).We then drove to the Bar V ranch where more cowboys and their horses were waiting. The land where we are going to ride and brand is actually on a Indian Reservation that belongs to the Crow tribe. 

At 7am we sat on our horses and rode the beautiful hills to find the cattle. There were three pairs who all went a different direction. I was paired up with Brian. We found some cattle up on the ridge and they needed to go down to cross the creek. Brian told me to wait on top while he would bring the cattle down. The other cowboys would come over the ridge and as soon as I would see them bring the cattle down, I needed to come down and look for him. So here I was, sitting on this beautiful quarter horse at 7.30 in the morning on top of the ridge overlooking this amazing area. It was an incredible feeling and I could imagine myself being an Indian Chief overlooking this valley in ancient times. When I saw the other cowboys bringing the cattle down, I went down the steep slope towards the creek. When I was there, I saw the cattle coming my way. I wasn’t sure what to do but Brian had told me that they needed to cross the creek so I guided them that way and just waited there till Sam came and told me that they had enough cattle and that Brian had been looking for me at the top of the ridge. There had been a misunderstanding in communication. He had meant for me to come down the ridge heading south. I thought he had wanted me to come down the hill. I learned again that communication is the key and that it would have been better if I had talked to him about what I understood he wanted me to do. Oh well, you always learn. Sam and I headed up the hill and connected with the other cowboys who were herding the cattle. This was great fun! Sometimes a calf would try to break out and then I would go after it and bring it back. Close to the corral we had the whole herd of cattle together and were driving them towards the coral. The cows could feel the pressure and we needed to stay close to push them forwards. I looked at how the others were riding but this was the first time for me so I was not as fast and flexible with my horse. At one point, there was a gap between me and another rider and the cattle broke through so we had to go in full gallop to get in front of them and bring them back again. This was very hard and focused work and I could feel myself and my horse tire. We stayed close enough this time and were able to bring the herd into the coral. Now I understand so much more about Western riding and why they do certain moves and why they all wear spurs. If you and your horse don’t respond quickly enough, you can lose the whole herd and have to start all over again. It was a great experience and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be part of this. 

The next part was not really my thing. Clayton, one of the other cowboys, gave me the tag gun and said that I had to tag the calves. I told him that I would not be good at that. I am a vegetarian so that should tell you enough about what kind of person I am, I said. They looked at me and I thought their eyes would pop out. You don’t eat steak, Brian said. The look on his face was worth a million. He had never met a vegetarian before. I guess I have landed in a different world. My new job was to prepare the tag gun with the tags and hand them to the person who was going to do the tagging. Two cowboys (or cowgirl as Claytons wife Christina also helped out and was an excellent roper) would enter the corral on horse, catch a calf with their lasso, drag it over the ground towards another cowboy who would be waiting with a iron handle that was tight to rope and rubber. He would put over the handle over the calf’s neck so that the animal would be stretched out between this and the rope around his legs attached to the horse. They would then brand it, castrate it if it was a bull, vaccinate it, tag it and dehorn it all in one go. Then they would let go of the calf and the next would be waiting.The castration is just done with a pocket knife. The just cut the testicles and throw those in a bucket that was right next to where the tags were that I had to put in the gun. I was in the way at one point and got some balls thrown at my legs. I have to say that I felt every pain of every calf and was so nauseated that I couldn’t eat lunch. I am not very good at this and definitely could not look at all. Of course I got teased because of this as Christina did the same work as all these guys and had no problems with it. I asked her what she loved about the life of a cowgirl. Everything, she said, getting dirty.  

We were back at the Ranch at 7pm and had branded 300 calves. I was exhausted. These guys work really hard. Getting up at 4am, doing extremely physical work and they might have had a break for maybe 45 minutes in between to eat some lunch and get something to drink. I am glad I got to experience all of this, even though some of it was not so pleasant. Now I have more of an understanding of the life of a cowboy.