Cowboy Moose

Nate’s current regular riding horse is named Stan. Stan is a 5 year old, half draft horse, half quarter horse gelding. He is about 6 feet tall at the withers, weighing around 1300 lbs. Stan is the largest horse we own. He tends to use his extra size to his advantage. Stan is the schoolyard bully at feeding time. Sharing is not in his vocabulary. When we bought Stan three years ago, he was barely halter broke. After lots of groundwork and long sagebrush rides, he has really improved. Stan has the occasional glitch, but it is usually negligible. We chalk it up to still being in the “colt” learning stage.

Recently, Nate saddled up Stan for an early morning ride. It started as usual, with no difference in attitude from Stan. They were headed off on an adventure to check cows on a nearby BLM sagebrush field. This is a regular occurrence, returning after several hours. However this day, Nate returned home shortly after leaving. That is never a good sign. He was on foot, soaking wet from the waist down, carrying his horsehair rope. Let’s just say he wasn’t in the best mood either.

Nate had gotten off to open a gate near our irrigation resevoir. He lead Stan through, tied the gate and was attempting to remount. Stan realized he had the advantage. If he didn’t let Nate get back on, he could return to the green pastures of home. When Nate’s boot went in the stirrup, Stan began bucking. Avoiding getting kicked, Nate dodged the large airborne horse feet, letting go of the horsehair rope. Stan disappeared, bucking over the hill towards the resevoir. Nate followed, expecting to find Stan along the water’s edge. Instead he found a fully submerged, fully saddled horse standing in the middle of the resevoir. Stan resembled a bull moose, with only his head sticking out of the muddy water. Nate attempted to wade out to retrieve him, but the slippery mud and deep water intervened. Stan bolted out of the water, onto the far shore, stopping at a corner fence. Nate made his way around the resevoir, assuming Stan had enough water activities for the day. At the first sight of Nate, Stan retreated into the deep water again. Nate walked home defeated.

Nate changed his soaked clothes, gathered up a long rope and returned to find Stan. Stan had decided his little prank was over, heading for home. Nate found him trotting down the road to the barn. Stan acted as if nothing had ever happened. The saddle and hackamore showed otherwise. A stirrup, hackamore, along with saddle conchos were broken. One stirrup leather is now extremely longer than it’s mate. There were also several new scratches and dents. We now know that Stan is not afraid of water. That’s a rarely used skill in the dry desert where we live. However, if we ever need to tow a boat, we’ve got the horsepower to do it.