Stormy's Memorial: It's Getting There!

 

February 11 2024

 

My beloved Stormy galloped over the rainbow bridge 2 1/2 years ago. Soon after, I started creating a memorial for him. 

I got the outline done, gathered rocks I would eventually fill it in with. 

 

Time passed, and more time passed. Weeds grew, time kicked the rocks out of the outline, and the pile of rocks I collected for the insides seemed to shrink.

 

The time has come to start working on it again!

I pulled the weeds, I re-did the outline, and used all the rocks I'd collected to start filling it in. Now, when out on hikes, when I see just the right rocks, I carry them home to fill the gaps.

 

It will still take some time, but seeing as it took me about 2 1/2 years to complete my beloved Dudley's memorial up on a hillside, I'm right about on my time schedule. :)

Just like every time I see Dudley's memorial on the hill, every rock I carry to Stormy's memorial brings a memory back. I know they are happy with that.

Dudley’s Hill

Saturday March 6 2021

He stands on the hill, gazing, listening, appreciating, absorbing, thinking.

It’s like this at the end of every ride. From the crest of the hill, we ride down, until he pulls over and comes to a stop at this point - Dudley’s Hill - and I get off, and he stands there. We stand there together, Dudley gazing at his home below and the hills around us, and the mountains to the west. I look at the scenery, too, but mostly I stand there and gaze at him, such a hunk of a horse, such an intelligent horse, a kindred spirit who loves to stop and breathe and take it all in. It doesn’t matter if we ride 7 days in a row; he always stops here, and I get off, and we stand together and look. Sometimes we’ll stand there for five minutes, before he’s ready to follow me down the hill and back home.

It’s been two years since we’ve done that together. Two years where nothing fills that void, nothing takes his place in my heart.

He stands on his hill in a different form now, his spirit always looking down, always present, always remembered.

Goodbye Dudley

My heart is forever shattered.

Belesemo Dude - Dudley
2002-2019

#BestHorseEver

#HorseLove

#TheDude

#MagnificentBeast

#RainbowBridge

#LaminitisSucks 

Exploring Owyhee's Perjue Canyon

November 24 2018

This Owyhee sagebrush flat and canyon had just a bit of a…. cougar-y feel. Not an imminent we're-going-to-get-jumped-on feeling, but… thick brush along the crick, a single path along the bottom of the high-walled canyon, rock shelters and lairs and mini-caves above, the cool stillness of a fall day, pregnant with the feeling of possibility and opportunity springing forth.

And that was before, about 20 minutes into our ride, Karen said, "Did I tell you last time we came here to hike this trail I saw a cougar print?"

Dudley and I had hitched a ride with Leah and her mustang Bear, and Karen and her former endurance horse Rusty, to explore Perjue Canyon in the Little Jacks Creek Wilderness. Rusty charged eagerly ahead on the trail, unafraid of anything (his only nemesis is cows), and Bear followed, completely unflappable (I expect if he ran into a cougar, he'd Stink-eye it away), followed by Dudley. The Dude wasn't nervous, but one time in the canyon he did stop and whip his head around behind him and he studied the brush along the crick a while. Dudley always sees wildlife before I do so I always wait to see what he's spotted; this time he didn't actually see anything. But Dudley knew that here it didn't hurt to check. 

I wasn't nervous, but I've learned over the years, if it feels like cougar country, it is cougar country. Doesn't hurt to keep your eyes peeled at the brush, the rock outcroppings you're riding under, and glance behind you now and then. Cougars aren't particularly numerous out here, but they are here.

While the canyons in the Owyhee country don't have the flair and grandeur of Utah's red canyon country, ours can still be a little bit spectacular, much less traveled, and intriguing to explore, particularly on foot. If there aren't trails down in all of them, there are usually plenty of old two-track roads to get you cross-country and at least above those canyons.

Closer to the cities, the red rhyolite-walled Sinker Canyon can certainly be called spectacular; it's a popular place for ATVs (so if you're going horseback, you want to go mid-week, and preferably when schools are in session), and a side trip on your way to Silver City.

Perjue is further out - a good hour further out, on a good-but-washboard Mud Flat dirt road that is part of a scenic Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway over the Owyhee mountains that eventually dumps you out at Jordan Valley, Oregon.

The canyon is named after Frank Perjue, whose old cabin walls still stand near the approach to the canyon. He probably homesteaded cattle (or sheep?) here in the early 1900's, and it was probably his livestock that originally laid the trail that we rode on. Perjue Canyon follows the West Fork of Shoofly Creek.

The Little Jacks Creek Wilderness (over 50,000 acres) is 1 of the 6 wilderness areas in Owyhee County, designated in 2009. BLM, Idaho Trails Association and other volunteer groups worked on developing this trail in Perjue Canyon. It's an out-and-back trail 4 miles down the West Fork of the Shoofly Crick, where it ends at private property (we were hoping for an obvious loop trail, but nothing obvious appeared, but with more exploring, there might be options), and 4 miles back.

At places, cottonwoods crowd the trail, and thick quail bush clusters along the narrowing canyon. We were past the time of golden autumn leaves, but during the height of color, the cottonwoods along the crick must be stunning yellow, and the quail bush deep maroon. And, at the right time of year, you can see bighorn sheep in and above the canyon.

We had a bit of water in the crick that we crossed several times (ice, actually), but the brush looks thick enough that there may be some water puddles year round.

It's an easy day hike for Owyhee hikers (and a BLM picnic area and vault toilet is about a mile down the road), and an easy exploring ride for trail riders. There was enough up and down, and a bit of scrambling over shale at a few places, and long enough to make Dudley sweat, even in the cold, though as endurance riders we wouldn't have minded another 10 miles or so, for the long trailer ride we took to get there.

But it was another cool new checkmark I can put on my Owyhee country map, and Dudley had a good time and a good workout!

Spanish Walkin'

Wednesday January 24 2018

Trick horse Dudley - The Dude - Belesemo Dude - is getting the Spanish Walk down. And we're not working that hard at it, it's just sort of falling into place!

I used to just have him stand still and strike with left-right-left. I can get him to strike out with one leg or the other while in the saddle. But only the last few days I've asked him to start moving forward and stepping, and doing more than three in a row. He's picked it up fast, and is quite pleased with himself.

Here's a video of the progress:


(or link: https://youtu.be/-nxmVKHmnWk )

Go Dudley!

That Ain't Right

Sunday January 14 2018

What a beautiful day for a spring ride!

But wait - this is the middle of winter! Last winter we were under feet of snow. We'd had temperatures that dipped to -13*F a couple of times.

Not so this winter.  We have had one single instance of 3" of snow on the ground. That's it. Hasn't made it below zero once. Now it's daytime temperatures in the 50's. Barely freezing at night. Grass starting to come up. Someone saw the first flowers coming up already. At least one of our horses is starting to shed her winter coat. I saw two flies yesterday. A friend saw herds of gnats along the Snake River already - ugh! The resident male screech owl has started hooting a month earlier than normal.

That Ain't Right!!!!! (But does make for some nice riding.)

Land of Little Snow

Monday January 1 2018

No snow and no wind makes for a nice New Year's Day ride in Owyhee.

Last year the snow bombs started dropping December 4, and didn't stop till late March, leaving us with a most astounding record snowfall. This winter was supposed to be the same, but so far we're sorely lacking in the white fluff department. We did finally get a couple of inches on Christmas Eve, but it's already gone.

In fact the Owyhee mountains that you see there in the distance have such a pitiful, miserly layer of snow, there could still be cows grazing up there (we saw fresh cow tracks today… so they aren't all down in Oreana yet).

It's too early for me to panic yet, but I want my snow! I sure got spoiled last year, when for the first time in 60 years, it was measured in feet, not inches.

But on the plus side, it makes for good winter riding, and keeping Dudley on his diet and exercise program, though I don't know that he would agree!

Rocking' the Bow

Tuesday December 12 2017

This little trick sort of developed on its own, when I started locking the two Hoodlums, Dudley and Finneas (show names Douglas and Finley) off the hay during the day. As compensation I gave them a little treat. One day when I turned them loose, I happened to be standing between them, and Finneas *thought* I wanted him to bow, and when he did, I asked Dudley to bow. It's become a ritual now (though I ask Finneas to "bow" and Dudley to "step"). 

Dudley of course knows lots of tricks (his favorite one right now is picking up a feed bucket), and Connie has taught Finneas how to bow and how to kiss.

The Hoodlums have previously worked as a team before, exhibiting how not to be afraid of a tarp,

but this double bow is their best yet!

Video here:

(or, link to video: https://youtu.be/PjuYgXbZCL8 )

Make America Hot Pie Again

Saturday November 25 2017

When the talk shows shout screamingly and the tweets beller bellicosely and the harassers harass humanity and the bellyachers blame everybody else, I switch off and go saddle up Hot Pie. He doesn't care about any of that stuff.

We just head for the rim trail, stop and enjoy the scenery, take in the high desert Winter-Is-Coming air, eyeball coyotes, stink-eye the Oreana-bound cows, and appreciate the vastness and quietness of a little corner of Owyhee, where the only really important things are, Ride a Good Horse and Make America Hot Pie Again.

#RideAGoodHorse

#MakeAmericaHotPieAgain

Hot Pie

Thursday November 16 2017

I call Belesemo Dude lots of names*, but Hot Pie (from Game of Thrones, naturally) is my favorite go-to. You can kind of see the resemblance - both rather rotund, and both love to eat.

My 4-legged Hot Pie has been marking and unmarking a lot of trail this last month, and he's quite proud of himself when he gets back home all duded up. 

We even heard a cougar yowling on Hart crick on one of these occasions, and boy did he turn on his Orlov trot to get out of there, though no cougar in its right mind would've messed with the Dude all bedecked in ribbons. He's gotten real good at stopping at ribbons and standing very still, and, since he's pretty tall, letting me lean waaaaaaaaay over, one foot out of the stirrup and my heel digging halfway up his side to hold on, so I can reach down and grab the ribbons.

Yesterday he was looking all handsome, sashaying down the trail from his Unmarking foray, wearing 2 ribbon necklaces, wooden stakes strapped to his pack, and jugs bouncing off his saddle.

Belesemo Dude/Hot Pie is featured in this month's Postcard From Owyhee:

http://merritravels.endurance.net/2017/11/postcard-from-owyhee-winding-down.html

*Buster Brown, Busterufagus, Dude, Duder, Mighty Mouth, Chunky Monkey, Buffalo Soldier (borrowed from Connie and Finneas), Stud Muffin, DUDLEY! (when he's in trouble), Hot Pie

Trickmeister Dude: Pick It Up

August 27 2017

Dudley has a passel of tricks in his bag, but it's been too bloody hot to work on any this summer.

One trick is Touch It; it started with my hat. When he started picking it up on his own, that morphed into Pick It Up. From that it's developed that he has to Pick It Up and hand it to me before he gets a treat. The handing it to me part really hadn't clicked - it's more luck that I can grab it before he drops it - but we really haven't worked on it. 

The other day Steph said she left a feed tub out in the pasture, and to pick it up if I saw it. Did somebody say Pick It Up?

Connie and Sarah and I were out riding later, and I spied the bucket. I sent Dudley over. "Pick It Up!" I said. Dudley reached down, picked up the bucket, and when I reached for it, he handed it to me! Oh for a camera!!!!! Of course he got big praise and a treat for that!

I tried it again when we got back to the house, but instead he did his Spanish Steps. Not what I asked for, but he did them so well, I changed to the command for that ("Step" and a nudge with my toe on each side), and gave him a treat.

Today I fetched a camera after our ride, and tried to get Pick It Up of a feed bucket on video.

Here it is! 

or link: https://youtu.be/eVE3jIajMuY 

Dudley's Owyhee Treasures

Monday March 6 2017

I'm not the only collector of Owyhee Treasures.

(And some quartzite stones I find become Owyhee Designs jewelry.)

Dudley has his own ongoing collection.

This is some of what Dudley has found: 

Deer antlers (he even has a trail named after him - the Dudley Antler trail because he found an antler on this new trail he and I and August and Carol discovered); pretty rocks; owl and Raven and hawk feathers (which he likes wearing in his bridle); turkey feathers (he found 2 of those on the Bandit Springs ride and sported those in his bridle) and even a lotto scratch ticket! (I did the scratching, but he didn't win anything.)

Today we struck across-country to avoid some cows on the trail, and I said, "Maybe we'll find an antler today,"… and not a minute later, Dudley found a nice antler to go in his collection.

It just goes to show, not everybody is interested in diamond and silk… some of us treasure rocks and feathers and antlers and such things home-grown in Owyhee.

Mooooving Day

Wednesday March 1 2017

Sometimes Dudley does OK when it comes to moving cows and watching cowboys and cow dogs work. Other times, I think he's been watching too many shoot 'em up Westerns, and he thinks some old fashioned Good Guy Bad Guy Western Shoot Out Mayhem is going to break out and he won't know which way to duck.

We headed out onto the north flats today, just to see how many cows were out that way, and we didn't find too many, because cowboys were on their second day of moving the herds to the south flats. Dude was surprised, nay, startled mightily to see a cowboy on a horse out there when there's usually no other humans or horses in sight, ever.

We said our howdys and chatted on the nicer weather, while Dudley casually ogled the cow horse who rather totally ignored Dudley, drop dead handsome though he is.

The cowboy and his dogs rode on over a hill, and Dudley really wanted to follow, so we climbed the hill and watched a bit while that cowboy and another drove a small herd westward. We stayed back but followed a ways… until several cows shot off to the south, and a cowboy and several dogs peeled off to head them off, disappearing over another hill. 

That's when Dude starts to get very excited about the whole Giddyup Moooooove 'Em Out Ride 'Em Cowboy Move Along Little Dogies YeeHaw aspect of things. When he's close enough up to cows and calves to where he could bite them if he wanted, he's fine, but watching all these naughty running beasts trying to escape in all directions can set him off and turn him into a volcano ready to explode. (Same with an endurance ride sometimes, when he can see horses strung out long and far along a trail.)

We left off and turned back (mostly so I wouldn't make a fool of myself, getting bucked off and having to be gallantly rescued), and anyway Dudley got some good animated exercise into his walk home as he ruminated over the Wild West in which he lives.

We did see some sights today, besides working cowboys and working horses and working cow dogs.

We saw a calf with a busted knee. He stood up when we rode by the first time; on the return trip he just laid there and looked at us. He won't be going anywhere but down a coyote's gullet. (I did tell a cowboy, but how would he find it, or catch it.)

We watched a coyote, making a big circle around another newborn calf… with mama cow off grazing around a corner draw and unaware of impending disaster. Dudley and I chased the coyote off a ways, but none of our hollerin' brought mama back bellerin' in defensive mode, and the coyote just made a wide half circle.

We saw pretty fresh cow afterbirth splattered on the ground… no coyote or Ravens had discovered it yet.

And we saw the gorgeous Owyhee desert, with the still-snow-draped Owyhees for a backdrop. It's one of Dudley's favorite views.

Trickmeister Dude

Sunday January 22 2017

My sister's visiting, and she got to meet Stormy and Jose and Dudley and the rest of the herd for the first time.

Dudley put on a little show for her the first day. Not too bad, considering we haven't worked on tricks for a while! (Day 2 we tried and he was totally uninterested in performing. In fact, he just stood there and stared at us, even with carrots as rewards on offer! Oh well.) My sister took the pictures.


cheese!


give me a hug!


pick it up! 
We just started on working having him pick it up and hand it to me. I tried to run in there to grab it before he dropped it! Gotta work on it.


step!
Working on the Spanish step. Right now he has to do 3 steps (left right left) before he gets a reward. We'll eventually work on walking forward while doing it.

Willie Wants to Be A Bad Boy

Wednesday December 21 2016

In the mornings, I lead the two Hoodlums - Dudley and Finneas - up the canyon and lock the green gate on them up there. If I don't, those two will hog the hay feeder - Finneas on one side, and Dudley on the other, with the rest of the herd standing around waiting and hoping one of the Bad Boys will get thirsty and leave the feeder to go get a drink, so they can slip in and get a few bites.

Willie the Standardbred has started following me as I lead Dudley and Finneas up to the green gate. He wants to be a Bad Boy with the two Hoodlums.

I don't know Willie well enough to know if he can handle being separated from the rest of the herd - I don't want him trying to go through or leap the fence if he decides Dudley and Finneas aren't the best company after all. So, after I lock the two Hoods behind the green gate, with Willie looking on, I start walking back down to the herd. I gesture to Willie, Come on, and he starts ambling back with me, his head right over my shoulder. 

As we walk down the little Roll Hill (where everybody likes to roll), I start trotting… Willie starts trotting… and we come around the last sagebrush and I start running, and Willie falls into a pace, then in a split second he's racing past me in a kind of pace-a-lope, sprinting to the herd with his tail waving over his back like an Arabian. He turns his head back to look over his shoulder at me while he's frolicking like a jackrabbit.

I don't know if he'll ever make a real Bad Boy, but he enjoys flirting with danger.

Belesemo Snow Dude

December 11 2016

It's our favorite time of the year. Cooler weather for Belesemo Dude (Dudley), and WINTER and SNOW for me, The Ice Princess.

Call me nuts, but you'll at least agree that this video is fun and the country is beautiful and the beast I'm riding is magnificently marvelous.

Hallelujah!

or video link:

https://youtu.be/Y1fs-oYA8q4

Just. Beautiful.

Friday November 18 2016

Owyhee: expansive views and empty spaces and hiding places, where coyotes and sage grouse and Ravens and the occasional big horn sheep and cougar roam. These hinterlands are a sacred space. Here is no room for darkness and angst and turmoil, only a place of quiet and of inner peace, of simple stark beauty, and, on the back of a horse, freedom and joy. 

I love a good wild place. I love empty quarters. I love to stop on a canyon rim with a grand view, and look, listen, inhale, to feel. I love the silence, the secrets that only one walking or riding can find and fathom.

Is it just a coincidence that the two horses I have spent the most time and miles riding - Jose and Dudley - both love to stop on hilltops or scenic spots and admire the view? I didn't teach this to them. They just do it. Both of them will stop at a majestic spot with a sweeping view, and they will look. Not just look, but analyze, appraise, and comprehend, and, I'm certain, appreciate it. 

Just. Beautiful.

*The top picture I posted on FB got so many views and comments, it deserved a blog post!