Personal Integrity and it's relation to rural living

Play First - if you have trouble, email me - jamesobrien@ranchforeman.com
[audio:http://www.spiritualhorseman.com/audio/louis-about-sis.mp3]

Sis
1968 - 2009
Kid Horse - Cow Horse - Friend


Sis wasn't Tonni's (my wife) first horse, but she was that one special horse in her life. Sis started out in the wilds of New Mexico on an Indian Reservation and came into Tonni's life when she was nine. She taught her more than she cares to recount about horses, horsemanship, rodeo, competition, etc. The second line in this post is not a typo. She was 41 years old when she died Monday. I've been in the horse world all of my life and I've never heard of a horse living such a long time.

What always makes me smile, though, is how animals like this teach us more than just the standard animal-husbandry-feed-and-medicine type of stuff. They move people. If you haven't had a special animal in your life get one. If that one craps in the bed, well, get rid of it and give it another try. ;)

Too many people in our society these days miss out on the character building lessons that the care, love and loss of animals teaches us. Listen to the voice of the man in the recording at the top of this post. It's Tonni's Dad. Sis was at his place when she died. That man has seen many animals die and you can still hear the emotion in his voice when he talks about this one. That emotion is for Sis, it's for Tonni, it's even for Louis. I'm sure this brought memories of one of those special animals he had in his life. They impact so many parts of our lives.

And here's what Tonni's best friend Becca Chalk Burns had to say:

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Oh Tonni, I wish I had the words. A lifetime with our best friends is never enough. I know with all my heart that God takes and keeps those who watch over our hearts. Without a doubt he's got those three in his herd. As for ever finding another, well that's an impossible find. You & I both know there's only one Sis & Poncho. We didn't find them - they found us. It was out of our love for them that we found ourselves & in that defined our character & most of all our hearts. No other horse can help mold you as Sis did. God knew we needed them just as much as they needed us. So no, there will never be another little sister. She's got your heart like no other. There are others out there they may come close to stealing your heart but only one will hold it ... love you always - Chalka

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If you choose to be around animals, you may be lucky enough to get one of those special ones in your life. A dog, a cat, a horse, cow, whatever... a giraffe or zebra. Doesn't matter.

What matters is that those who grow up with animals come to understand what responsibility really means at a very young age. And loss. They may get the old "Buster-ran-away" speech when they're two or so, but then comes the death speech at a very young age. The beautiful part is that they also become entwined in God's creation the way God intended - Harmoniously.

Sometimes, amidst the music of life, comes the verse that touches our hearts in ways words can not explain. And we love.

Just because we know that every song ends doesn't mean that it wasn't worth the listen.

Stand for what is right.

Lynn Cadell is a humble gentleman from South Central Texas who enjoys a good team roping when he can fit it into his schedule. Neck surgery placed quite a restriction on the movement of his neck permanently making him a heeler rather than a header.

Lynn attended the San Antonio Stockshow and Rodeo this past February during the Select Sale. The San Antonio Select Sale is an auction held by Dale and Donna Segraves where 300 registered quarter horses and paint horses are sold to the highest bidder.

Well, Mr. Cadell hadn't planned on buying anything, but when the gavel dropped on a good looking young buckskin filly, he was the highest bidder. And he was psyched. She was nice and he picked her up for what he thought was a bargain.

Evidently, the owners thought so, too. Lynn went and paid for his new filly, signed the ticket, and eased back to her stall to get a good look at her. There he was met by the should-have-been-ex-owners who asked him what he was doing. I wasn't there, but I can only imagine Mr. Cadell in his most authoritative effort coming off more inquisitive than anything else as he told them that he was looking at his new horse.

"We didn't sell her, " they told him.

"Well somebody did because I've got the signed ticket right here, " Lynn said.

Lynn was upset at this point, but just like SO MANY other good Christian people, he let it go. So, the people who brought the horse and didn't follow the proper procedure to pass on the sale got to take the horse back home. And the people who held a sale, sold a horse, and completed paper work for the sale of the horse didn't have to do anything. And the man who did everything right . . . got screwed.

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Herman Rose of 7HR Quarter Horses was at this sale as well. He was on the other end. He consigned a very nice two-year old son of Smart Chic Olena. The colt was the third high selling horse of the sale and the highest selling two-year old. Congrats to Mr. Rose.

Well, not so fast. Mr. Rose got a call almost thirty days later. The new owners claimed that the horse only had one testical. They had a vet, Dr. Keller of Sonora, inspect the colt and declare that both visually and by palpation, it was determined that the horse had only one testical.

Segraves called Mr. Rose and he quickly let them know that he would take the horse back. He told Mr. Segraves that he had not inspected the colt and that he honestly had no idea. I'm sure Segraves had heard that before. Long story short, the horse was returned.

BUT, that's not all. The colt has two testicals. The whole situation turned on it's head when the colt arrived back to 7HR Quarter Horses. You can easily see both testicals when you're just standing next to the horse. I've seen them. We were on location taking pictures unrelated to this situation for Mr. Rose's website when he asked me to take a look.

So . . . The guy who paid for the horse, took him home and manipulated medical information on the animal got his money back. The auctioneer who sold the horse, provided all the legal paperwork to make sure that this doesn't happen and allowed it to happen anyway got off free and clear - again. And the man who consigned one of the best horses in the sale and bent over backwards to be helpful when he thought he was in the wrong . . . got screwed.

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Yes, Our Lord instructs us to be humble and contrite. However, we forget that He also asks us to stand for something. For Him. It's not our job to be humiliated, but to have humility. We aren't here to cower to the unrighteous in an effort to be meek. We are here to discipline the unrighteous and yet not lord it over them, but be merciful.

Proverbs 10:17 "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."

Work to stand for what is right even if it means conflict. Most Christians are humble people and if they stand to benefit, they feel like they are taking advantage of the situation. However, by allowing the unjust to benefit from their ways, we are actually leading them astray.

Not Thursday

Luke was riding around pretty well and I had just transitioned him to a walk after guiding a while at a lope when the phone rang. It was John. My older brother lives just south of me about 130 miles and I don't get to see him, or his family, nearly as often as I'd like. Time is a precious commodity when you are trying to go through ten head after lunch everyday so the phone usually goes unanswered until after dark. However, the fact that Luke deserved a quick break coupled with my brother being the caller resulted in me whipping open my still beloved tough phone.

Jesse Howell needed a horse. He had made arrangements with John prior to our visit, but John had just found out that he wasn't going to be able to pull away from work in order to meet Mr. Howell at the ranch. Well, my brother has an amazing ability to influence people and I'm no exception. The next thing I was doing was thanking him for the chance to head south and show Jesse Howell my brother's mare. This reads a bit like my brother is a silver tounge professional persuader in it for his own benefit. I assure you he is not. He's good because he's genuine. He'd do it for me in a heart-beat. And he asked me to take along an additional colt for Mr. Howell to look at that I felt would fit his needs and budget.

So Tuesday morning rolls around and after getting everyone fed four lucky prospects won a free trip southward bound to Quincy. Tuseday's are pretty nice down there. Mostly maintenance days at the beginning of the week. Your looking at projects like gate hanging, water checking, feeding, checking foaling mares, etc. It's a steady stream of effort, but nothing that will get you hooked off the fence or round housed into the roundpen floor.

The horse demo went great. John's mare looked great, but Mr. Howell took a fancy to the little sorrel gelding I took down there. He was a double-bred Gay Bar King two-year-old that had just started to make a move. By that I mean he was getting comfortable with the maneuvers he was being taught and starting to try a little harder. Gaining confidence. Jesse loaded him up and off they went. And just like that, I was 1 head lighter for Wednesday. The Scholl's will be excited. The little gelding belonged to them and they've recently had a stroke of bad luck with the horse deal. This lick was just what they needed.

Don Lotspieche was at the ranch. For those of you who know Don, you're already laughing. For those of you who don't, let me try to shed some light on this stay-put-drifter. Don's child-like wisdom will astound you with it's insight while his cow-hand-gone-hippie facade will mesmorize you into just staring at him wondering what the hell he's gonna come up with next.

Well he came up with plenty. He took John's mare for a ride after Mr. Howell headed back to Premont. Don started that mare and wanted to get a couple of last rides in before calling the job done I guess. So he heads up the hill.

There aren't many hills in South Texas. There is one on our place though. Or so that's what we call it. It's in the same pasture that we keep the roping steers in and it's a great place to take a colt to just push cattle around and get them comfortable doing "real work". When Don got back we had an interesting conversation.

"Hey James, what about that Border Collie? He worked his ass off," he half hollered at me across the pens.

I stepped that way and he continued.

"I was loping that mare down that north fence and she was doing real good. That little charolais-cross-lookin bull that always stays off to himself was out there layin down. We rode up on him and that mare shied from 'im a bit so I walked her back up there and made her stay put. When he got up, I tracked him ALL OVER that place until he had just about had it. He finally turned around like he was wantin' to fight. That damn mare pinned her ears and cowwed down on him. I was real proud of her. She's gonna be a nice mare. That yella gyp and collie dog were lettin that sucker have it the whole time."

"Well I really like hearin that about that mare," I said.

"Yep, that's a nice dog," Don said as he was noddin his head and walkin towards the saddle house.

Here is where most people would think... "What the hell?" ;)

But I know Don. I was once the young fella who would listen to the dogs when we were in the brush and tell him which way the cattle were. Then, ride like crazy trying to keep up. I've seen and heard about him doing things for people that few would bother doing. He's a good man. And having a conversation with him at the ranch is most definitely worth a trip south. Well, if you can call it a conversation.

As in our little conversation today, Don knows where he's headed in life. We might not know where Don's headed, but Don knows. Straight ahead. What you see is what you get. The ability to disregard other's opinions is often frowned upon and sought after by the same individuals. We could all use a lesson in turning loose. Gather your thoughts and realize who it is that you are. Then stand for something. You'll piss some people off. But . . . if you really master the Don way of life.

You won't care.