August 10, 2008 Thirty-third ride; Happy Birthday!

We rode pens with dad today and helped him to get out sick cattle. Bear doesn't look at the little calves as well as the 4 and 5 weights. Maybe he thinks they are my black lab, Queen. He isn't concerned about her at all. He did trail this little calf up to the chute pretty well, though. We hung around and watched and listened to the doctoring; the cattle going through the snake and the clanging and banging of the chute. Took the calves back to their pens and opened and closed the gates.
We rode down through one of the river pastures after riding pens. We practiced riding over logs and doing maneuvers over and around logs and did a lot of suppling in the thick tamarisk. Saw a lot of deer and even found a nice big tom-turkey feather!
I think Bear likes going through the river pastures. He is always attentive but seems real relaxed when we ride down there...even with the deer jumping out, Gabby running crazy-wild, coyotes, ducks and cranes and turkeys. I probably enjoy it more, too, especially all of the monster antler sheds we manage to find in our exploration!
I was really tired today; I worked last night, but Bear was great and what a great way to spend my birthday!