Multimedia message 7 from Tony...

Travis and Coal in the new pen.

Multimedia message 6 from Tony...

Clancey and Coal in their new home!

Multimedia message 2 from Tony...

Cahlibur, Coal, Clancey and Belle exploring their new home!

Clancey's First Saddle!!!

Cool Slideshows

Just as soon as Tony took Daffinah out of the round pen, the day of her evaluation, Travis led Clancey in so that he could put a saddle on him for the first time!

At first Clancey could care less that Travis put a saddle blanket on him...then the saddle...even when Travis cinched it up, Clancey didn't think a thing about the saddle! Except maybe it was something he could put in is mouth. It wasn't until about ten minutes later when Travis was leading Clancey around the pen, that Clancey reared in surprise that something was cinched around his belly!!! He bellowed at the same time and I am surprised I got a picture of him. I am getting used to just looking through the camera so that I have a better chance of capturing that "special moment" easier.

Travis allowed Clancey to buck out some and then led him around the pen some more. After Clancey bucked a couple more times he decided the saddle wasn't such a bad thing and shouldered his burden as if he had been born with one on his back!! Travis let Clancey carry the saddle back to the truck and was rewarded with a treat of Ash leaves! No rodeo tonight...all this took place in a matter of maybe 20 minutes!!!

My favorite picture in this bunch is the one of Clancey holding the stirrup straight out!!!
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Miscellaneous Stable Pictures...

Cool Slideshows

Here are some pictures of the horses in the turn out pen or going to the turn out pen or talking through the fence at the turn out pen. I never tire of taking pictures of the horses!

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Lucky herding horses...

Cool Slideshows

It was time for Lucky to go into the turn-out pen and move among the other horses. Tony saddled him up and rode out into the field to work him a little before going in with our little herd. While Tony was putting Lucky through his paces, Travis took the horses over to the turn-out pen one at a time. First Clancey, then Cahlibur, Coal, Belle, and Oakley.

I love this still picture of Miss Katy following Travis (as he readies a piece of twine to put around the mares necks to move them to run with the boys), Belle and Oakley are in the pen behind Travis, and Coal, Clancey, and Cahlibur are running in the pen in the background with Mt. Pinos behind them.


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Happy Birthday to Clancey!!! He's Two!!!

Two years ago today Travis' Mustang mare named Maggie gave birth to her first and only colt! Clancey was born in the early morning of April 2nd, 2005.

When Travis and Tony adopted their mares from the Ridgecrest, CA BLM facility, it only looked like Maggie was a little healthier than the rest of the mares. TnT and our vet knew that she was in foal! Two months later to the day, Clancey was born!!!

In this picture he is four days old and is checking out Travis' beard that he was growing for the "Beard and Whiskerino Contest" that was held in October of 2005!



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I Made It!!!

I am sitting in the motel room in Paso Robles, California! I spent the afternoon setting up the combination Information booth and PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe. I will try to get pictures. Katy and I ruined the zoom lens on my new camera. I didn't put the strap around my neck and she caught the strap and sent the camera to the ground. Fortunately the camera is okay. If I can find a store that carries the lens then I will pick up a new one tomorrow on break. (Kate was only trying to tell me that she and the other dogs were out of food. Needless to say, she does not jump up on me anymore. She is very sensitive and when I yelled at her she crawled over to her bed and sulked for the rest of the night.)

When I went looking for the stalls that Cahlibur and Coal will be staying in for the weekend, I met the owner of "Gaelic Dancer"! Barbara stated that her 4 year old stud was as gentle as a kitten and that is one of the reasons she raises Gypsy Vanners. And Amy, the vendor next to me, is the inventor of the "Horse Headlight"!!

It is after midnight and I have a long day ahead of me. I will write again tomorrow night telling you how the first day of the 4th Annual Equine Experience faired! By the way...the weather is beautiful...it reached 80 degrees today and promises to be a wonderful weekend!!!


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Cahlibur 'n' Coal Represent the Mustang Breed at Equine Experience...

That's right! Cahlibur and Coal will be representing the "Mustang" breed at the 4th Annual Equine Experience in Paso Robles, CA. TnT will trailer them over Friday morning after they get off work. There is a possibility that they will get some arena time, but that is not set in stone! I created a tri-fold brochure that visitors to Cahlibur and Coal's pens can take with them. Along with pictures of their Sierra Nevada Pack Trip and the brochures, Cahlibur and Coal will have to shine their best to impress these horse savvy people this weekend!
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Going back to the beginning with Cahlibur and Coal...

Looking through some old paperwork, I found an email dated Tue. 25 Sep 2001 12:46:28 that was written to TnT's paternal Grandmother and Grandfather. In the email, I am letting them know how TnT are doing with their new mustangs! Here it is in its entirety:

Hi!,
Tony and Travis are doing great! They have been working with their mustangs every chance they get! Tony's mustang still does not have his halter back on and we are waiting for the BLM Wrangler to come back out with a portable squeeze chute*. In the mean time Coal is starting to follow Tony around, even when they moved him to a larger pen down by the arena! Coal is used to the stock trailer and Tony can sit right next to his feed bin and water while Coal eats. Tony was just tell me this morning that he can put his hat down in Coal's feed with an alfalfa pellet in it and Coal will eat the pellet without jerking his head and Tony can put his hand down in the feed bin and in the water with only a little fussing! Little victories, a little improvement at a time, and when we finally get a halter back on Coal, we will start seeing big improvements just like with Travis' mustang!!

With each step Travis has only to work with Caliber a little bit and he does it. There has been no bucking and Travis is now riding Caliber down to the round pen to do the ground work, and last night he rode down and worked with Coal a little! Travis is letting Tony ride Caliber in the round pen and help him with reining and driving!

Both guys registered with Selective Service when they turned eighteen and if the President and Congress vote for a draft this year only Travis will be drafted, because he turned 20 this year. However, Tony stated that if Travis is drafted he is going to volunteer. If they go off to war it will be the hardest trial of my life! I have tried to leave them in the palm of God's hand all these years...

Take care of yourselves and God Bless America!!!

Love, Janey Loree & TnT

You may have noticed that this email is dated 2 weeks after 9/11. *The BLM Wrangler came back without a portable squeeze chute. However, he gave Tony some excellent pointers on getting a halter back on Coal. A couple of days later, Tony had two halters back on Coal and the adventure continued!

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More Bits 'n' Pieces...

Well, Clancey is no longer a stud. He took the long ride into the Equine Hospital for his surgery. There is a rule at the stables that either he would need to be gelded or moved when he turned 2. He will be 2 years old on April 2nd. Since he is not going to be a very big horse, Travis made the decision to have Clancey gelded. Clancey is supposed to be exercised twice a day for the next couple of weeks, to help eliminate any complications.

Cool Slideshows

Travis, Tony, Katy, Rusty and I arrived at the stables at a little after 4 this afternoon. It was Travis' day to ride Lucky to the palm and back, so I asked Tony to help me get Oakley out of her pen. I wanted to take her for a walk! Our walk was peaceful, she moved when I moved, stopped when I stopped, turn right when I moved toward her, and turned left when I turned away from her! I knew that she did this with Travis or Tony, this was the first time that I had taken her for a good long walk and we enjoyed it immensely!!!

Tony and I looked toward the palm up on the hill and could see Travis and Lucky walking along the horizon, just a spec against the sky moving toward the south past the palm heading to the 30 ft inclined sloped that was part of the "training course". When Travis and Lucky reached the incline, Travis said that Lucky just stepped off and down the incline without hesitating and dropped his haunches to slide down to the bottom. The training course is 2 miles long and has a lot of obstacles to overcome. Moving oil donkeys, raised oil pipes, ravines, rabbits, ground squirrels and dirt bikes, to name a few.

After my long walk with Oakley, Tony took her and lunged her in front of the pens. She has a smooth gait and switched directions with just a little coaxing. When Tony put Oakley up in her pen, Belle was taken out to be lunged in front of her pen. She might be little but she sure has a huge personality. She had been pouting in the pen when Tony was working with Oakley. Now she was smiling and switching directions left and right as she was told!

By the way her ears were moving I could tell that Travis was getting close to home with Lucky. Sure enough Travis was coming around the track where he rode Lucky back to his pen and tied him to the fence. While Lucky was tied to the fence, Lucky started pulling on his cinch as if to start taking the saddle off! John waited for a little while before he fed Lucky, waiting for him to cool down and help him not get "barn sour"!

While Travis was taking the tack off of Lucky, Tony took Belle over to the back of his truck to see if she would step up into the bed. She lifted her front legs like she wanted to, but she just wasn't tall enough to accomplish the feat.

Travis in the meantime had taken Clancey out of his pen, they were heading to the round pen for his nightly exercise, with Katy in tow. Clancey is a little swollen and the exercise would help bring the swelling down, helping the incision to stay open and drain. He worked well in the round pen, switching directions with a spin, I caught one of those spins on camera! After his twenty minutes of exercise, Travis took him back to his pen, only to continue on over to Cahlibur's pen to get him out a little bit.

As I got back around by Lucky's pen Tony was asking Coal to step up into the back of his truck! Coal had long enough legs and plenty of trust in Tony not to ask him the impossible. I was starting to run out of memory card by this time and was having a hard time getting the camera to take the pictures when I wanted them, but I was able to get a couple of Coal with his two front hooves planted in the back of Tony's truck.

By the time Travis took Cahlibur out into the field to let him roll it was getting quite dark. It was time to feed and head for the house. What a wonderfully, peaceful time at the stables!!!



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Two Cowboys, Four Mustang Horses, And A Dog!

TWO COWBOYS, FOUR MUSTANG HORSES, AND A DOG!

This picture is of the trailhead that Travis and Tony took as they started their two week journey into the John Muir Wilderness Area, northwest of Bishop, CA. The picture was taken in June of 2006 on a scouting trip of the area.

On September 3rd, 2006, TnT rode in on Cahlibur and Coal, leading Belle and Maggie, with Katy tagging along. The only two pieces of "modern technology" taken was a camera and a cell phone. The cell phone would be relagated to the emergency kit (out of view and turned off to conserve battery power.)

At the end of this week, Travis and Tony will be coming home after spending two weeks in the John Muir Wilderness Area. Two weeks of nature for two cowboys, four mustang horses, and a dog!

Meet the Cowboys...
Preparing for the Pack Trip...
The Packing List...
DAY ONE...
DAY TWO...
Editor's Extras...
DAY THREE...
DAY FOUR...
DAY FIVE...
DAY SIX...
Editor's Extras...
DAY SEVEN...
DAY EIGHT...
DAY NINE...