THE EQUESTRIAN VAGABOND

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The Equestrian Vagabond blog

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See you over there, and thanks for reading and commenting!

Merri
The Equestrian Vagabond

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/21/2010 8:11 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
FANDANGO FLAGGING


Thursday May 20 2010

We went out to mark some of the trails for the 3-day Owyhee Fandango ride May 28-30. You'll see some of this if you do Day One.


Holy Moly - it wasn't deer, it was big horn sheep! I've only rarely seen these, and never here - they are usually 2 drainages further east. You'll be real lucky if you see these!


(We also saw a deer, 2 lone pronghorns, a nice brown snake, a red-tailed hawk nest, ravens.)

Picking a trail through the brush, heading to the Rock Corral.




The flowers are pretty outrageous in the desert right now - lupine, bitterbrush, Indian paintbrush, biscuitroot, buckwheat, daisies, phlox, aster, and others I don't know. The blooming bitterbrush and the lupine smell so sweet.






Mac was a bit frantic on his own, but Rhett is coming now!




Don't want to get off to tie a ribbon here.


Boot malfunction!




We had several boot malfunctions! This was on a steep slope that I almost fell down on while trying to remove the hanging boot - fortunately Mac just stood there and didn't move!

Hart Creek drainage, looking toward the Owyhee mountains.


Coming down into an old homestead.


Steph points the way.


Mac and Rhett have a discussion.


I found a Raven feather!


There's a crazy amount of grass, too.




Back into the home creek after 7 hours of marking trail.


A good day in Owyhee! Come see it at the Owyhee Fandango in southern Idaho end of May.


More photos of the Alder Creek loop here

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/20/2010 12:13 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
LIFE IS GOOD


Wednesday May 19 2010

In Owyhee, Life Is Good.

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/19/2010 10:43 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
DARWINISM THEORY SUSPECT!


Tuesday May 18 2010

Even the smallest being can challenge a mighty centuries-old theory.

A pair of Eurasian collared doves (an invasive species here, I might add), decided to build a nest and lay some eggs. Steph and I figured this is a Redneck pair.

"Hey honey! I got an idea! Let's build us a nest and lay some aiy-ggs!"

"OK well we don't got much money, so let's just throw us up a quick few sticks right here where we're sitting so we don't got to go far! We got a great view and it's low maintenance!"

(A few pieces of straw were tossed haphazardly on the edge of a finger-thin tree branch where it's touching the roof.)






"Heck I dunno how long our straw pieces will stay so we better hurry with the aiy-ggs! There, I popped a couple out! Whoops! This un's about to roll out the nest! Just nevermind that second one that's just going to fall through a hole in the nest!"


"That's okay, I'll put a stick there to barricade it! Just don't bounce too hard when you fly off."


The doves are trying to blow cannon holes in Darwin's ideas of natural selection, survival of the fittest and strongest, the intelligent reproduce so the species survives, etc.

Who knows? Maybe the little gray doves know more than humans. Maybe they'll defy the rules. There are an awful lot of them around. But then, one more gusty day, and this pair of doves aren't going to be reproducing anything but poached eggs for the ants.

I think Darwin can rest easy.

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/18/2010 2:07 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
MT ADAMS ENDURANCE RIDE AND RIDE N TIE


Saturday May 15 2010

A gorgeous setting for the 14th annual Mt Adams Endurance ride - 100, 75, 50, and 25 miles, 25 and 12 mile Ride N Tie, and a Trail Ride - outside of Trout Lake, Washington, near the foot of 12,281' Mt Adams.


A good scratching while waiting in the vet line.


He thought about bucking at the start of the 25 mile ride!


A group starting on the 25 miler.


One of the CUTEST KIDS EVER. Garret's 5 years old, and did his first endurance ride with his mom on the 25 miler. Biggest smile plastered on his face all day!


Sherry from Canada.


The Ride N Tie'rs start out on the trail.


Heading out on a loop.


One of the other CUTEST KIDS EVER, and one of the CUTEST PONIES EVER. Clara and Benjamin are doing their first 75 miler!


Cooling Benjamin down at a vet check.


Tanking up before going out on the next loop.


Dennis Summers trotting out 19-year-old Rosie. They ended up winning the 100.


This horse was catching everybody's eye: half Friesian, 1/4 Arabian, 1/4 Quarter horse. He and Nicole finished the 100.


Heading out on another loop.


Nothing better then a good roll at the end of the day!

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/16/2010 9:50 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
BATMAN!


Wednesday May 12 2010

He's got long bat ears, and if you squint your eyes, you can imagine a black cape twirling behind him.


Steph says he's like a kid with ADD (failing to pay attention to details, appearing not to listen when spoken to, "daydreaming" (of saving the world) , excessive distractibility, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating on conversations).

He's got a butt on him like a mac truck, (it's a paint butt - he's 3/4 Arabian, 1/4 paint) an engine back there that propels him forward at the trot like a rocket. Riding behind him, before you can say "Hey wait a - " he's gone.

He's excessively kind and he's curious, a sweet, gangly, somewhat dorky kid.




He's the Caped Crusader - come to save the day! (Or, at the least, Owyhee).








(Cue the Batman music!)

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/12/2010 6:05 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
ANOTHER DANG BIRD STORY


Tuesday May 11 2010

I saw, two or three times, a bird flee from under my truck's tires where I park it in the grass. I'd clear away the start of the nest in the grass - straw, sticks - but the bird would fly out again next time I was there. (It shot out of there so fast I never got a good look at it.) Even though I don't use the truck much, I finally decided to move it so the bird wouldn't build a nest underneath. Had enough trouble with those starlings in the barbecue, you know.

Yesterday I spent the day in town (an hour drive each way), and parked my truck in a different spot back home overnight.

Today I took my truck to the neighbor's to have help changing the oil.

Rick opened the hood: "Oh my God!"


Five eggs in a robin nest!




Dang bird.

The nest looked untouched, after driving 150 miles around Idaho, like it was still waiting for mom to return.

But now, at least 24 hours without incubation, the robin eggs were just that - blue eggs.


Sorry Robin! Next time I'll think to check under the hood during nesting season! Maybe it's not too late for these robins to build another nest and lay a new set of eggs. I hope so, anyway.

Robin egg omelette, anyone?

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/11/2010 5:36 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
IT'S CRIMINAL


Sunday May 9 2010

It's just downright cruel, forcing a horse to get out of bed on a lazy morning and go out for a ride.

Could you do it?

Could you come up to a horse like Jose, totally passed out and make him get up?


He didn't even hear me talking to him, didn't open his eyes.


When he finally opened his eyes, he laid there a minute, then groggily sat up.


Looked at me. Smacked his mouth and licked his lips.




He stared at me after I put his halter on.


Unmoving.


Not even a tug on the rope convinced him to get up.


He gave me a chance to change my mind. Or feel really, really guilty about it.


OK, if that's how I really wanted it, he'd get up.
One leg. (Wait, in case I wanted to change my mind.)


The other leg.


Staggered up, stood there, stretched his back, smacked his mouth and licked his lips some more (just like I do when I wake up!), blinked his eyes hard (just like I do when I wake up!). Yawned.


Followed after me, his feet shuffling along the ground, his eyes half closed.


I felt so guilty I let him graze on the way to Carol's.




Turned out to be quite the beautiful morning for a ride, and Jose didn't mind being out.












Next time, though, I would be more considerate if I picked a time when he's not zonked out.

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/9/2010 1:23 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
OWL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL


Friday May 7 2010

In some cultures, the owl is a harbinger of doom and death.

(They're all so wrong.)

In some cultures the owl symbolized protection and wisdom. Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, made the owl her favored creature.

Next to Ravens, Owls are a very special bird for me. They're beautiful and mysterious, and mostly hard to find - if you do see one, consider yourself lucky. One of my great jobs was doing spotted owl surveys. I've gotten to hold spotted owls when we banded them.

This spring I've been quite lucky to find several owl nests in the area - 2 long-eared owl nests and 2 great horned owl nests.

This is a family of great horned owls down the creek whose progress I've been following. The three babies always looked quite fierce when I checked on them, although they never showed alarm. Mom and dad pretty much totally ignored me.

April 26:


May 3:


May 6, the nest was suddenly empty! Did they fledge already? Those fluffy balls of feathers surely weren't able to fly already! We'd had a terrible wind storm the night before, and I was so afraid they'd blown out of their exposed nest, maybe fallen in the creek right below the tree, and drowned.

May 7:
I hiked to their nest, and this is what I found: all three babies had indeed fledged! (It takes 35 days from hatching to fledging - leaving the nest.) They were all in 2 trees 50 yards up and across the creek. Two were hanging out with mom and dad, and one sat in a tree by himself.






Owl's well that ends well for this owl family.

(Really, there's just nothing cooler than Ravens and Owls.)

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/7/2010 9:01 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
THE WORLD'S WORST AMATEUR WANNA-BE BIRDER


Thursday May 6 2010

I headed out to chip away at a piece of my Mission of hiking the whole of Brown's Creek, from mouth near the Snake River to source in the Owyhee mountains.

The seed of this idea was the Two-horse Mystery and Cats day where I discovered and detoured to another Homestead on Brown's Creek - instead of hiking along the Second Cliffs like I'd originally planned.

Today, I was aiming for those Second Brown's Creek cliffs. First, I stopped to check on the First Cliffs eagle nest. I did see a golden eagle flying in the air, but, when I came to where I could view the nest - no eagle! And nothing on the nest! Oh no, the nest must have failed! There appeared to be a lot more whitewash on the cliffs, around one of the old nests and some nice eagle perches in the cliff, and in fact a lot of little whitewashes on the walls around the nest, but the nest itself looked a bit caved in beneath, and there looked like there was actually some snow in the nest. Snow? It snowed yesterday - maybe the eagles just recently abandoned the nest?

Well, no sign of eagles, so onward with my hike.

I thought I'd make a loop out of hiking a mile up Brown's Creek to the Second Cliffs, turn south towards the Dam Wash, and hike back along the Dam Cliffs and back down the Dam Wash to where it ran into Brown's Creek at my starting point.

I had to backtrack a long way just to get down into a side wash that ran into the Dam Wash... and by the time I got down into the Dam Wash, I was fascinated by it, and instead followed it down to where it ran into Brown's Creek.

Water didn't run in the Dam Wash often, but when it did, it was obviously powerful. Evidence of plant debris was several feet up the sides at places, and there were some drops over boulders where brief waterfalls had carved out deep holes. One drop-off was 4 feet high. I didn't want to be in here in a flash flood (and there were scattered showers around).

I kept stuffing my pockets and my backpack with cool rocks - round ones polished by water, sandstone-colored pink ones, obsidian nuggets. The echoes of canyon wrens (very cool calls) and chukkars echoed off the high red cliffs. A frog hopped around a little puddle of water. I watched over my shoulders for cougars.




When I reached flowing Brown's Creek, my plans changed. Why not hike down through the narrow canyon, below the eagles' nest, since it was abandoned, and see what I could find?


The creek was swift, but narrow enough to rock-hop over. I worked my way downstream beneath the cliffs, watching for cougars, keeping my eyes on the rocks and caves.



A prairie falcon was incensed at my presence and screeched his outrage, perching on the top of a cliff to glare down at me as I passed far below him.

Below the old eagle nests,








I found little bones (eagle meals) and a couple of (probably) eagle feathers. Further along the cliff, somewhat below the abandoned nest, I found more little bones of eagle meals, another feather or two, and 2 broken eggs. (Couldn't be eagle eggs - too small, and they would have shattered if they ever made it this far down the cliff). But no signs of baby eagles, lumps or carcasses or piles of feathers.

I was going to work my way downstream and on out past the cliffs... and stopped myself right before I stepped into a collection of poison oak. The stinging nettle caught my eye, then I realized those pretty 3-leaved sprouts hanging out with the stinging nettle were not friendly. If they hadn't had some red on their leaves I wouldn't have noticed them, and I'd be in quite an itchy state now.

Instead, I thought I'd call it a day, and I crossed the creek and scrambled among the cliffs back up to the top. I decided to have one more look at the eagle nest. I hiked back toward it, popped out around a rock - and a golden eagle flew off the nest!

Oh. My. God. What an Idiot. I am the World's Worst Amateur Wanna-Be Birder. That 'snow' on the nest - was a pile of baby eagles! Had I figured that out, I never would have hiked through the canyon. At this stage of development, the babies are not able to thermoregulate, and if the adults abandoned the babies, they'd die. Great to know I could have really eagally screwed things up.

As it was, I must not have disturbed the adult on the nest while I was puttering around snooping far below the nest, and as I climbed up the other side, until I walked back to where I could see the nest. Nevertheless, after a quick look through my good Nikon binoculars (I couldn't tell how many baby eagles were in the nest) I did some golden eagle penance and got out of there quickly. (Idiot!) (What did I THINK baby golden eagles would look like, fuzzy nuggets of gold?)

Here is a picture of golden eaglets by Carol McIntyre.

Before heading home, I wanted to scout out a better starting point for the Dam Wash Cliffs (I'll have to cross the Dam Wash to get to the Second Brown's Creek Cliffs) next time. I drove another mile up the road, and found a side road that led me closer to the cliffs. I got out and hiked the half mile down to the cliffs and - almost stepped on a baby rattlesnake.

At this time of year?? I know it's May, but it SNOWED yesterday, for Petes sake. It's too cold yet for rattlesnakes! The high buzz of his rattles were so - unexpected, I first registered it as a cicada, until I realized we don't have those here, and I leaped away in fright, somewhat belatedly. The buzzing stopped, but I couldn't stop myself from turning back and creeping back, ever so carefully... to make sure... and there it was, a beautiful, little, maybe 7 inch long rattler. The babies are supposed to be the most deadly because they inject all their venom in a bite. It curled and started rattling again (I figured I was out of range, but I backed up more), and it slithered into a crevice in a rock.

Cougars, schmougars, I was extremely jumpy about rattlesnakes now. If I squatted down to look at the pieces of natural obsidian littering the ground, and my boot squeaked, I jumped. My eyeballs and ears were on hyper-alert and I was nervous and jumpy as a spooky Arabian horse.

Crossing a 2-track road (which I wouldn't drive on) that you've ridden on, if you've done the Castle Creek loop on one of the Owyhee rides, I made my way to the cliffs - and right where I hit the rim - right there in front of me across the deep canyon - was another golden eagle nest, with several white lumps on it. With my binos I still couldn't determine how many eaglets were laying in a row, but I thought i saw 5 or 6. Endurance riding bird biologist friend Karen S told me later 6 was impossible; 4 young have only once been recorded in the history of the world, and three is unusual (the normal is 1 or 2). So either I found a hawk nest, or there were just 2 or 3 biiiiiiiiiiiiiig white lumps of golden eaglets there. I have a feeling it was eagles, but when we return in a couple of weeks to check it out, we'll know for sure.

And I still have my boots set on hiking to the Second Browns Creek cliffs. I am sure there could be another eagle territory there, too. Fascinating, this Brown's Creek drainage!

Photos of the canyon hike here.

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Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at 5/6/2010 8:46 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)