Conquered by the Canyon

There could be lots of titles for this post....."When Hell ( Hells Canyon ) freezes over" would be a good one...or perhaps"I should have stayed in bed".....Here is my account of our horse camping/hunting trip.


The morning started out wrong...when we went to load our mares to head out on our trip we found the mares were already out and needed rounded up! Ally was at the barn waiting for Mike, Izzy was giving HeartBreaker google eyes over the fence....silly girls! someone managed to disconnect the gate from its hanging posts....silly mares!

When we arrived at camp, Darren and Jeff were already there...the weather was spectacular and Mike and I hobbled Izzy and Ally, left them to graze while we set up our tent and got things arranged. This is a stunning place, at 7000 ft elevation you can see forever! The Seven Devil mountains rise in the background of this pic, they are to the NE of where we camp.


The next day the guys scouted a bit....we turned the hobbled mares out to graze and things seemed to be going well enough....The noise level at night was a problem though, the mares played in their corral, banging off the panels and thumping the ground. Hmmm, I will have to think of a way to remedy that. Ally and Izzy found a quiet spot to relaxe as the fog/clouds came in that day.

Saturday, the rest of the hunters arrived...there will be 7 hunters, and me...the horse wrangler I guess? More camp set up, and some scouting for the guys..we also noticed that there are way more pack trains going down into Deep Creek than usual. We had spotted a large herd of over 100 elk on the hill side above Deep Creek, but the constant stream of pack trains would be sending those elk into no mans land....an area where there are cliffs, no roads and no way to get to them. In the night, I heard the corral panels again, this time though, it was a different sound, and I knew right away what it was....Ally had laid down close to the panels, when she went to get up....she had her front feet under the panel....so, @ 3am, I slipped on my shoes, and went out to get her out of her predicament.....she seemed a little sleepy..had to slap her on the fanny to get her up once she was free...


Sunday the season opened...Mike is 52 today! The guys hunted all day long. The weather was so/so...no sun left anymore...it was quite cool, 20 degrees when the guys left camp this am. Duane and I hand grazed the mares awhile, then hobbled them and turned them out. Imagine my shock when we checked on them and they were no where to be found! We started searching, and found them at a neighboring camp...a camp which had mules....we called the mares with a grain bucket and they came as fast as they could. Our mares also found out they can canter while in hobbles....not so good at first, but after a few trys...pretty darn good! They made one nice canter through camp...that kind of ended a whole lot of time in hobbles.

The week went on....the weather got a little tougher each day..then by Wednesday, the temp just stayed at 15 degrees, night and day..the wind picked up too, and from then on, blew 30PMH steady, with some 60 MPH gusts....talk about cold! Luckily Duane and my job was to keep the wood stoves burning and warm.....one in the main sleeping tent and one in the cookshack. At one point we were all sitting in the cookshack when a huge gust of wind came along..it tore the 14 X 30 tarp, which we used for a rain fly right off the tent.....within moments the guys were outside trying to catch the tarp, but it had already spooked the mares who were relaxing in their corral....Ally was nearest to the fence, and on her way out she skinned her nose...pulling a flap of skin right down the bone....Mike and I went after the escaped mares, and Duane helped me doctor Ally's nose....the best thing I could think of was to lay the skin back down and hope it would graft back on....I had a bandaid out of guaze and duct tape. It worked too! By morning the skin flap was laid down and had started the healing process.
Then..it started to snow.....each day we got more snow and more wind....I kept the blankets on the mares 24/7, they needed the extra warmth....the next few days were cold and the guys had nearly no visibility..elk hunting here you count on your eyes....with fog/clouds at our heads/snow/blowing snow...the conditions were tough...in fact, we know of NO elk being harvested after opening day....we were not the only ones the weather was conquering.


More snow..more wind...I calculated the temp + wind factor...it was -5 degrees most of the week, according to the wind chill chart! We kept the fires toasty warm and kept the mares fed and happy..no hobbles now...everything was buried in snow. I highlined the mares, I really wanted to see how they would do, and they handled it just fine....


It was apparent by the end of the week, we just were not going to get a weather break before our season ended. Here are a few more pics from our week, Mike hauling wood to the main sleeping tent.....Ally staying warm in her blanket.....a few icicles on the tent ;-)
A couple days before we headed home we found out we were sharing the cookshack with a chipmunk...."Chip" spent 2 days with us....snacking on carmel popcorn, and a few other snacks we thought he would like...he was very undaunted by my camera and I have fun trying to get the perfect shot of Chip....
We headed for home on Saturday..it had been a wonderful and memorable week. Even though I had no opportunity for some spectacular packing pics, I saw my mares grow up a whole bunch and that is always of value. The training that I did over the last month will pay off in the end for these girls, and they will know the routine if they go camping again. If not for good equipment, plenty of planning and experience we might have been short on supplies or equipment...but we lacked nothing....a good time and a memorable time...that is what life is all about ;-) It took us 2 1/2 hours to break camp...each of the 7 of us working on a task.....and I snuck away to take a pic of the sunrise..in the back of my head I remembered...."red in the morning, sailors warning" I can only imagine what it would have been like on the edge of Hells Canyon that very night!

Training trail horses

Over the last month I have been busy training. We have all our foals weaned and enjoying life in a small herd, guided by our yearling filly "Princess"....so, it was time to change focus and start making some progress on our trail horses. Summer show season is over and we can now concentrate all my efforts on our Creekside Trail Horse Deluxe training. I will be offering our mare "Izzy" a 2005 curly mare as my first "5 star Creekside Trail Horse Deluxe" in the spring of 2010. She is currently offered for sale, and is getting lots of daily training. We will be taking Izzy and Ally on our 2009 Hells Canyon hunting/camping trip. We will spend 10 days on the rim of Hells Canyon and our mares Izzy and Ally will be used to pack elk that we harvest on this trip. Izzy has been through a regimented training schedule learning to hobble, stand tied quietly for hours on end, pack items and fresh game ( meat ) ...in our pics here, Mike is using Izzy to pack almost full water cans + fresh meat...the cans make lots and lots of noise, sloshing back and forth, he also threw in a few rocks to add to the noise factor. Izzy has handled all this training in stride. Many horses are better with one rider/handler, but Izzy handled reliably the same no matter who is at the end of the lead rope, or who is in the saddle. I have been taking a few lessons on Ally, and since my instructor does not like to teach from the ground, he has been riding Izzy. This is a real benefit to me, as I can see how Izzy does under saddle and also get more professional time on her under saddle....did I mention she is for sale? I will be keeping Izzy in training all winter...there are a couple local schooling shows, we will plan on attending those too.

Replacing the old with the new

I was sorting through some old "Country Living" magazine, when I came across some inspiration about replacing some old with some new...now you might think, lovely pictures inspired me..but no..it was the editorial, written about cleaning the editors office....she made the point that replacing the old, will make room for new and interesting things....I got to thinking about this...and it really is profound....it could be as simple as tossing out some old magazines, and replacing them with new issues...but what if...we apply it further....replacing old habits with new healthier ones, replacing old taxing relationships with new healthier ones....replacing old ideas with new more inspiring ones.....the author certainly opened up some opportunities to see ourselves in a different light ;-) Each day is a new day, and we should enjoy every single moment as well as strive to be a better self.

Dad's Birthday October 9, 1919

On October 9, 1919 my Dad, R.A. Meiling was born in Vernal, UT.....on September 20, 1958 I arrived and was introduced to my Dad.....My Dad was a quiet man, a builder with standards totally beyond what most folks would consider, a teacher, an animal lover, esp dogs..and an avid reader. He passed away on May 5th 2007. I miss my Dad dearly, esp during the time of year that we always celebrated his birthday.

A couple weeks ago, my Mom held an estate sale of my Dad's tools and stuff. As I prepared for the sale, I came across a sheet of quotes that he had thought enough of to write down...In honor of my Dad, I will share some of those quotes here. I do not know of their origin so I can only say they are quotes from my Dad..that I know for sure.

"He who is silent is strong"
"A fool speaks often and without thought" hey...this was before the internet..how appropriate is this now?
"The less people think, the more they talk"
"He who knows nothing, is confident of everything"
"Better unfed than untaught"

I really appreciate Dad dropping these quotes in my lap so to speak....and how appropriate for these quotes now...some were copied from a book that listed quotes from people that lived in the 1600's.....ironic isn't it...these quotes still apply today....
thank you Dad ;-)

WOW...that was fun!

Today, I had the pleasure of introducing my curly herd to a couple of professional photographers from the Seattle area. I had met Gretchen Thompson of Gretchen Thompson Photography ( see her work at www.flickr.com/gretchent) earlier this year at the Colfax Threshing Bee on Labor Day. Gretchen also brought along a friend, Bobbie Clime of www.bobbiecphotography.com Bobby is a Portrait specialist, and we asked her to do a few horse/human portraits for me.

The girls arrived at 7:30am as planned, and we began shooting and playing with the horse shortly after their arrival. The sun was just peaking the hill and the light on those early photos ought to be quite lovely. After a round of playing with the babies...our 3 weanlings and their counterpart, Princess who is a yearling...we put them up and brought out the big gun! HeartBreaker danced his way all over the pasture, showing off his love for life and open spaces. After he got the "wiggles" out, we worked on portrait shots of HB and Me......it got warm fast, and by the time we got done I was pretty sweaty.....!

We came on back inside and had some discussion, looked at a few of my photographs and Bobbie helped me with a sizing issue I have been having regarding printing 8 X 10's.....Bobbie is a Photoshop expert and her help was GREATLY appreciated ;-)

What a wonderful time we had......working on composing shots and thinking of new creative ways to pose and portray.....working with these two gals was truly an honor for me....

THANK YOU GRETCHEN AND BOBBIE !!!

A Renewal of preserving food?

Cute little jars of Blackberry syrup sit atop cute really little jars of Blackberry jelly


Recently I read an article about the renewed interest in home preservation of food ( canning ) HA ! That is something I never need renewal for, it happens here on a yearly basis and has happened here, every single year of my adult life. This year I was making a list of things I had preserved..it goes something like this....Asparagus, Cherries, Apricots, Salmon, Tuna, Tomatoes, Salsa, Soup Veggies, Peaches, Blackberry jelly, Blackberry Pancake Syrup, next in line is Pears, homemade and preserved Chili, Apples, pumpkin, squash....and we also dried a few items too, Cherries, Apricots, Tomatoes, Pears, Apples, Jerky and Pepperoni.....so, my cupboards are stuffed full, and I suddenly realize why I have been a bit strapped for time ;-) I love the knowledge I learned from "the chore of canning" when I was a kid...makes me a perfectly capable adult food preservation specialist!

It's my birthday .....more from Hattie!

Dear Diary, I am 3 months old today...My Mom says I am doing well. I enjoy my days with my brother Dark Knight, and my sister, Heartfires Spark...Mom calls her Spark. I rule the roost. DK is second in line, and poor Spark has to be in the bottom spot. Mom gives us grain everyday. I also am still getting milk, as Mom thought the recommended time frame of weaning off milk, was a bit too early for me...she did grumble something about the price though. DK likes milk too, but I make sure he only gets a slurpe after I get my belly full. Ahhhh! the life of a horse at Creekside....plenty of food ( we have our own really big bale of hay ) lots of clean water, some great attention from the humans, and my milk and grain snacks....Mom also has Darryl come over and spoil me too...she likes to read to me..is that spoiled or what ???? Life IS good!