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.

Ranch Ethics Thursday

June 30 was my birthday. And as part of my gift, my lovely bride sent my Maui Jim's sunglasses in for repair. Maui Jim's evidently has impeccable customer service. They returned a brand new pair of the titanium Kapalua's. I was just hoping to get my sunglasses back. Maybe with the lenses replaced. But they sent a brand new pair, and a new case with cleaning cloth.

I had them about an hour.

We went to Barnes & Noble as part of the celebration. I know, boring, but that's what I like to do. Anyway, I was reading something and had set my glasses down for a couple of minutes. Now they're gone.

What does this have to do with Ranch Ethics?

I'm getting there. I was furious. FURIOUS! Why the hell would anybody want to be a good person when everybody around you are complete trash. And evidently you get more out of life ( like a sweet new pair of Maui Jim's sunglasses ) when you're a thieving asshole. OK, the vulgarity is a little much, but I was still a little put off by this whole thing... Until Thursday.

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Thursday morning kicked in the same old routine. Up and at 'em - feed - hook up and load saddles and gear - load horses and head south. As soon as I arrived, Morgan and I made the feeding rounds and then headed to where we store the portable pens. They're a set of heavy duty panels engineered to be pulled like a bumper pull trailer. They can hold close to forty or fifty head and can be set up by one or two men in about fifteen minutes.

Anyway, I was curious as to where we were headed.

Berclair.

Well, that was Five-O's country and I thought we had cleaned it all out several months ago. (The Five-O's are J.M.'s five children.)

Morgan informed me that we were not working our cattle but a neighbor's cattle who had ventured on to that Berclair country. Fair enough. We got hooked up and headed out.

As we pulled up to the middle trap, there were three or four head in there with the same amount of calves, none of which appeared to be Five-O's cows. (There were still seven in the pasture that belonged to Five-O's) That's about what I expected. However, we just got a count and kept on truckin'.

"Where we headed?" I asked Morgan.

"Down to that back trap. Those are probably Cartright cattle. We'll just set those trap gates and deal with them next week. I think there are a couple more of them in here."

So off to the back we went. When we pulled up to that back trap I didn't see a couple of strays. I saw sixteen head of good looking tiger striped cows, at least 8-10 calves and one bull. What the ...!?!?

"Who do these belong to?" I asked Dad wondering who had the 'Lazy-P' brand.

"Mike Powers. I've been calling him for a couple of days and I think they're working cattle across the creek today. So, we'll just try and get these penned and head over there. Hopefully we can catch him 'cause I'm not sure where he wants 'em."

It all boils down to the fact that it's HOT. And DRY. South Texas looks pretty rough right now. Since Five-O's had pulled nearly all of their cattle off of this place, it was one of the few around that had plenty of grass. Couple that with the fact that it's bordered on one side by the Blanco Creek, which is dry as a bone, and you have cattle looking for grass and water. So they start pushing on the water gaps down in the creek bottoms and it doesn't take long for them to end up in our set of rolling pens. ;)

Dad and I got the pens set up and long story short, we also got the cattle penned. A phone call from J.M. let us know it was lunch time. They were headed into town to the Taqueria. We stopped by the Powers place and spoke with Mike's brother, Norman. (by the way - How do you make a deer blind?.................................. You poke it in the eye.)

I know, but Norman thought it was hilarious. But he was the one that told it.

After lunch we headed to the ranch to get a couple ranch rigs to load the cattle in. We hooked up and one by one our little three rig convoy eased through that infamous narrow green cattle guard and headed for Berclair.

I guess it was about half way when I asked Dad why it always seemed like we got horseback and went to pen our cattle, load them and bring them back whenever they got onto someone else's place. And anytime someone else's cattle got on our place, we always hand delivered them.

He just grinned. He said he didn't know why it always ends up like that. But his grin and demeanor said otherwise. He was perfectly happy doin' it. Of course it would be nice if people brought our cattle in. But we don't have any control over that. So why do we always take care of everyone else's cows.

Because it's the right thing to do. That's why.

Thanks for the lesson Morgan. One among thousands.

Then on my way home, another of my influencers (by the way - who influences you - who do you influence) drove it all home.

Don't pray for an easier life. For more money. More happy times. A healthy wife.

Pray that the Message - His Message - may prosper. Pray that you can help deliver it. Trust me, when my glasses got stolen, I was not wanting the message to prosper. ;) I was wanting to strangle somebody with that super cool and bendy titanium frame that those glasses were made out of.

If you want to listen to Gregg Matte talk more about this click here.

It's worth a listen.

This also reminded me of a book that my friend Stan Sigman gave me a little while back. Here it is on Amazon:



It's a great read. And it tries to help everyone understand why in the world you'd take care of everybody else's cows even when nobody takes care of yours. It's called Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West

Well, Morgan, Mick, Dick and I got Mr. Powers' cattle loaded and delivered.

Why?

Because it's the right thing to do. Be an example of His Message.

5 Best "Good Guys" in a Western Movie

It's hard to walk the line. Temptation is everywhere. We all fall, and we'll probably fall again. However, there are a few impervious to the will of Evil . . . even though they're fictional and never existed. ;)

Here's five of the best 'white hat' characters from a western movie. These guys walk the line.

Wil Andersen


Woodrow F. Call


Jim Craig


Mathew Quigley


Roy Rogers

I wanted to list 10, but pickins are slim when you're looking for good guys in a great western. If you know of some more, leave them in the comments. Just click the comments link below, or click the title of this post and scroll to the bottom.

We are the lucky ones.

John 20:29 reads, ". . . Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

The other readings for today can be found here, but before you head over there, remember that we are the lucky ones.

Some may wish to have lived in the times of Christ, but are we that strong. Are we able to follow the 'new guy' with all our hearts, all our souls and all our minds. Or would we be standing on the sideline quietly watching as Christ was put to death?

Those who were living good lives, not rocking the boat, but not taking action to follow Our Lord. Where are they now? I wonder where I would have been. Where would you have been? Quien Sabe?

We don't have the benefit of "seeing". We still have to make that decision - Do we stand on the sideline?

But, we have the benefit of years of Christian influence, teachings and traditions. We are the lucky ones. Though we have not seen, We Believe.

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.