A busy spring weekend -or- Rosey **Chapter V**

Stardate 05/16-18/08

Spring has sprung at McKuster Ranch for '08. This past weekend was a very busy one, that almost turned into summer.

It now appears that last Friday evening maybe the last evening of the season for sitting by the back yard fireplace; warming our bones and having a round of refreshing "McKuster Ranch Cider". This spring Kittee by chance found a new and better way to enjoy all the apples that are grown in our Walla Walla River Valley. We now call her find "McKuster Ranch Cider". As you may find the time, we hope you will drop by and join us for a round or two** (over ice it goes down very, very smooth and is most refreshing).

This past week the orioles have begun to nest in the front yard Hawthorne tree, (I caught this male Western Tanager in our weeping willow tree on Sunday) while the lilac bush, dogwood tree, are in full bloom, the iris are just beginning to bloom as the temperatures went well into the 90's. Yep, it was a scorcher here this past weekend.























Our new foal Rosey,
aka. Yet-to-be-Named is now three weeks old, and appears to be growing almost as fast as the spring weeds in our garden. You may notice the title of this blog, and the next few contains a V, which is for Varian Arabians in honor of Rosey's grandfather's heritage. With her black mane and tail, we are kinda hoping that she will turn into a bay mare showing the beauty of her sire Eagle and grandsire on Shaiela's side.
Rosey is now showing very few rib lines, appears to be growing much taller (lot of leg) and to "look her in the mouth" shows her beautiful baby buck teeth smile. Kittee was quite surprised at how sharp these little teeth are.

Are we imprinting our little girl to be handled or what?
Youbetcha.

This past weekend Kittee and I took our Friday afternoon to do odds-and-ends chores around the ranch as we had made plans to take off on a ranch trailride first thing Saturday a.m. The weather forecast was calling for weekend temperatures to soar into the 90's to 100°, and we had company coming to the ranch on Saturday afternoon.

We started Saturday morning very bright and fairly early as we prepared Derby and Misty to be saddled up and ready to ride with Jennifer and Phoebee at 8:30. All went well as we prepped our horses and mounted. Just as we crossed the Walla Walla River Road onto Cashe Hollow Road, our horses encountered a new herd of cattle. We all got a bit of "spook in place" out of that encounter, Misty was then ready to return to the barn. But after the calm down and steady up, we headed up Cashe Hollow Road and had a most enjoyable, even though hot ride until about noon. Returning to the ranch, the horses had a chance to shower off and cool down a bit under the barn's washwand. After that we turned Derby out to pasture with a new boarder - Calvin, who came on board with us last Saturday.

Calvin is a most congenial 3-year old cinnamon Appaloosa that stands 16 hands. After he and Derby had a while to get to noses each other, we then introduced Nugget and then Gray to Calvin. All went well and Nugget and Calvin began to horseplay quite a bit. Fun watching these 1000 lbs. pet playing with each other, in the same horsey manner as puppies do. Calvin's tri-colored paint buddy will be joining us around June 1st.

Now, after all of this was said and done, Kittee and I were expecting to have company join us for the late afternoon and evening. The Temple family were coming over from Hermiston to ride and pet ponies, goats, watch Rosey, and joining us for a McKuster Ranch BBQ dinner. We had a most enjoyable evening with the Temples on this visit, as Harrison spent quite a bit of time riding Jasmine, Kalli also rode Jasmine a little, and they both treated her to some monster strawberries. As the afternoon temperatures approached 100°, everyone kinda kicked back with the Big Gun irrigation works running in the pasture and Kittee and kids running through the lawn sprinkler in the front yard. Patrick and I had a few beers trying to beat the heat, while watching the kids play in the sprinkler and ride pony.
Patrick (who built Grandfather) at the time of Kittee and my wedding, brought parts with him and did a motor replacement on Grandfather. We are now happy to announce that Grandfather is giving us the correct time once again as we come and go through the front door and pass through the house. Thanks, Patrick for building our clock and putting him back into gear. Most of the late afternoon and evening the Temples had a laid back p.m. at the ranch, petting the animals, taking a walk along the river (which is full of spring runoff), and we then polished off the day with a McKuster Ranch BBQ. From the comments passed around the table, I think everyone enjoyed our ranch grub. It was about 9:30 p.m. as the evening wound down, and the Temples headed out, Kittee and I headed to bed.

Sunday again was quite a busy day, as Kittee and I started working with horses and ponies and were a bit tired from the activities and hot temperature of Saturday. Late morning we sit under the maple trees on our west-side lawn and watched horseplay; taking pictures and videos of the frolics of Calvin and Nugget in the pasture. I was feeling the onset of a head cold, so with all the go, go, go of Saturday we planned to call Sunday a day of rest at 2:30 p.m.
Shortly thereafter, cousin Worth and LaBelva dropped by for an afternoon visit. Shortly thereafter Jennifer and Henry dropped by for an afternoon visit. Shortly thereafter Kristin and Galvin dropped by for a visit. Shortly thereafter Travis dropped by to work with Rusty and I; doing groundwork training and preparing Rusty for the saddleup/gettyup mode of horsey companionship. By this time of day, the onset of a cold was getting me down and I was so exhausted that I asked Travis to postpone our training session until Thursday evening.

Even though Rosey has taken most of the limelight since her arrival to McKuster Ranch, Rusty and I are having quite a bit of quality time as I pet and groom him daily, and we work together once or twice a week with our trainer Travis Webster in making our connection in the round pen. It is interesting to watch the progress on communication that Rusty and I have with each round pen session, even though he gets his butt worked and generates quite a dripping full body sweat. Through our working together, I am finding Rusty to be much more congenial/relaxed and eager/easy for me to handle.

Yep, Rusty is a hard body stallion, a very handsome creature, but more and more this gentle fella is a joy to be around at all times. When it comes to handling Rusty, I always keep it in the back of my mind, he is stallion, not mare nor gelding and handles nothing like either. We are connecting... a man and his stallion.

It wasn't long after Travis left that Kittee and I started putting things of the day away, and paid our last respects to the herd, had dinner and went to bed. It was quite a busy day... even as our day of rest, but we enjoyed it all.

**NOTE: If you have two rounds of "McKuster Ranch Cider" we will ask that you not drive out of here too soon. ;>)

another weekend in the life at McKuster Ranch --- Dale

Rosey **** Chapter 4 **** -or- saying Thank You

Stardate 1998-2008

Here's lookin atcha Partner...


My cousin Worth took me trout fishing one day on the South Fork of the Walla Walla River, while I was visiting Oregon on vacation, this was some years back. It was then that I saw this place. Coming off the river that day was like leaving a fisherman’s paradise. We passed by the Demaris Century Farm (since 1863), now McKuster Ranch - I remember that.

I remember the bluff and orchards and I remember telling Worth that I felt the people living in this valley must be some of the luckiest, most blessed people on earth, that was many moons ago.

Now, I have loved to fish this river (in our backyard) with it’s short drive (48 miles-one way) out of Pendleton and have done so many times while living in Pendleton, working the fly shop, and now living at Kittee's and Dale's McKuster Ranch.

It was when I owned Blue Mountain Anglers & Fly Shop, LLC many moons ago, that one day a red Dodge 2500 PickEmup truck pulled up in front of the store. Shortly thereafter an older cowboy type fella came into the shop. He was wearing a cowboy hat (I remember that), jeans, boots, probably a leather vest and if I remember correctly, he may have been wearing those spurs that jingled-jangled-jingled as he walked around the store. Nowadays it seems that this same cowboy fella is always wearing spurs, and he rarely professes French literature / philosophy at Whitman College these days.
That day he strolled around the shop for a bit, I then went over introduced myself and asked if I could be of any help with anything. It was probably the next hour to and hour and a half that we talked fly fishing, the mountains, the western lifestyle that we love, our lives/ time spent in Montana and France and now what we were doing in northeast "by-the-grace-of-god" Oregon. Needless to say we found a connection with each other and I learned as he was leaving the fly shop that day his name was Dale.
Another thing I learned that day was that Dale lived outside of Milton-Freewater at the upper end of South Fork Walla Walla River Road. I also learned that Dale’s place was right next to the river, the same place that I had coveted since the first time I had seen it… the day Worth took me fishing on the So. Fork. Yep Dale has a 160 acre spread in Oregon, with a river running through it, and the carved wooden sign in front of the house which read – South Fork Arabians. Dale has lived on his place for thirty some odd/ nearly fourty years, and is now a retired professor from Whitman College.
That day I told Dale of my fishing experiences on the So. Fork, he told me some of his.
I told him how many times I had passed his place and really envied the folks that lived in the house with the horse ranch sign in the front “yard”.
I am glad I had the opportunity to have met Dale that day. I now consider him and his wife Cheri to be most valued friends/ neighbors.

Fly shop ownership served me well, when I moved to Oregon with all the folks that I met inside those four walls; from my business partner Gail, my dear wife Kittee, and many, many others including Dale.

But this story is about my friend Dale. Long story short... it was Dale's & Cheri's place that Kittee and I were going fishing on July 4, 2002 when we saw the For Sale sign in the front yard of now our home/horsey ranch. Since the day that he came into the fly shop, we have spent many hours together in the saddle riding our Oregon neighborhood/back country, in each other’s home, walking our perspective horse pastures together, standing beside Walla Walla River Road, communing on the metaphysical things of life including trading jokes, and horse trading.

Yep, I will have to say that it was Dale Cosper that sank Kittee and I so deeply into our beloved horses. When Kittee and I met we were hoping that someday we would have the opportunity to have a couple of horses to ride in Oregon/ the Pacific Northwest. Having bought our ranch, and then Derby then Nugget, it was our friend Dale that made the deal for us to buy Shaiela and our Quarab mare Goldie. It was Dale that talked us into breeding SF SHAIELA to his Arabian stallion EAGLEFROMTHELIGHT.


Now we have “Rosey”, granddaughter of the AHA World Champion Stallion-- *SIMEON SHAI and SheilaVarian’s DESPERADO V.

It was our friend Dale that we talked to about birthing and imprinting foals. It has been Dale that we have talked to for hours concerning horse behavior and care.













It is to our friend Dale that we say “Thank You” for being there/ being here and heightening our knowledge in horsemanship/equine handling.
It is to our friend Dale that we say “Thank You” for bringing us around to now having and holding our Rosey.

So Dale, Cheri we just want for you to know, that if you ever drive away from our ranch and we have not said "Thank You" we hope you will realize how much we appreciate the opportunity to walk this Earth together with folks like YOU. ---Dale & Kittee

life around the ranch -- Dale

a YouTube video link to watch with this blog

Rosey -or- Yet-to-be Named *** Chapter 3 ***

Stardate 050708

Today Rosey is 10 days old. This morning Kittee and I stood at our home office window and watched as she romped, jumped, and ran around in the barnyard paddock.

Since she was one day old, she has been enjoying turnout into the beautiful sunshine of northeast Oregon, with a few snowflakes on some days.

Rosey is a very active and happy little filly, so much joy to watch. We have no problem calling to her, kneeling down and having her come for pets and hugs. A very loving, soft little critter.

I think in the past 10 days, we have probably made a few hundred+ pictures of our little filly. I will share a few of them with you since day one as you may also follow her story back through Chapter 2, and Chapter 1.

To date we are very impressed with our filly, as everyone that sees her feels that she may turn into a bright bay, reflecting the colors of her sire - EAGLEFROMTHELIGHT and grandsire -- World Champion Stallion - *SIMEON SHAI+, with the ear tip curls from her Varian Arabian grandsire -- Desperado V and great grandsire, Horse of Legend Huckleberry Bey breeding. Her tail and mane show mostly black and she has one white hoof. We will see how all this turns out when she sheds her foal coat. At this point Rosey is everything we were looking for/ hoping for in our Arabian foal... except a few thousand dollars of payback.

Here again, with hope to bring you closer to our ranch life, I shall let the pictures tell the story of Rosey first ten days of McKuster Ranch Life...

Now 10 days old...
stands this tall...
and has a beautiful baby buckteeth smile.

To be continued...

A day in the life with Rosey -- Dale

A day on the trail with the Blue Mtn. Riders - BCH

Stardate 050308

At our April meeting of PDT-Back Country Horsemen, Forest Rheinhart told our membership that the Blue Mountain Riders of La Grande had invited us for a trailride on May 3rd in the Summerville area. Robin Dale, Kittee and I said YES!! We definitely wanted to go on this trailride. We set our sails, cleaned our saddles and had great anticipation for this ride... with hope of a no precipitation day this early in May.

Now, Kittee and I love the Summerville area. Summerville is the shining example of beautiful country life, set in the countryside of the middle of nowhere, at the foot of Mt. Emily between La Grande and Elgin, OR. We were biting at the bit to get saddled up, go for this ride.

A couple of weeks after our BCH meeting, our friend Miriam (from the city) called and said she wanted to bring little granddaughter out for a visit at the ranch... on May 3rd. A conflict in the making; now to turn to Plan B.

Plan B... we had a new horsey boarder from Lexington, KY coming to the ranch on April 27th, and maybe she would like to ride the Oregon back country with Dale, as Kittee said she would stay at home and entertain Miriam and her granddaughter with ponies -- Jasmine, Ginger and our baby Rosey. A realization... to pet and hug Rosey, is something words cannot describe. Yes, Kittee was very happy to stay home this past Saturday and Sunday, petting and playing with her one week old baby... foal. Sad to say, Miriam found that her granddaughter has allergies to indoor cats, (like the ones living in our house) so they... not the cats, had to spend the weekend in a Pendleton motel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So as Jennifer and her horses hit the ground in Oregon, I asked if she would be up for a trailride on May 3rd. Yep, Jennifer had just arrived into her horseperson's dream and was ready to go for a ride in the Oregon back country... so we did.

With much anticipation I woke up around 5:00 a.m. Saturday; made coffee, went out caught up Misty, groomed her, had breakfast and was about to load Misty as Jennifer showed up. We got our horses loaded in good order and was ready to hit the trail. It was a most beautiful day, leaving home at 8:00 a.m. to get to the trailhead in Summerville and ready to ride by 10:00 a.m.

As we were heading for Tollgate I told Jennifer about our trailrides around the area, and the particular one we make from the ranch's front gate, up Lincton Mtn. Road and there we have lunch at the Tollgate Chalet at the other end of Lincton Mtn. Road. I pointed out this favorite lunch spot as we drove by it on Hwy 204. Maybe you will join us sometime on the luncheon horseback trip, just 12 ½ miles from the ranch, a nice way to spend the day riding around in the cool mountain timberland.
Almost everything in the Tollgate area was still closed for the winter season as there was still 6'-8' (yes, that is feet, not inches) of snow everywhere. Many of the houses there had snow up to the roof line -- see the link above.

We pressed on enjoying the beauty of the early spring snowscape/ forest scenery of the area, and then arriving at our designated trailhead at 9:20. We were the first to arrive, and Robin Dale pulled in right behind us. Jennifer and I off loaded our horses, tacked them up (did not forget our bridles this trip) and were ready to ride at 10:00 a.m.

Misty was eager, a bit impatient to go, as Jennifer, Phoebee (Jennifer's mare) and I were standing around waiting for the group to form up and hit the trail.

This was a most interesting ride, as there were very many snow banks/drifts to have to negotiate and this was the first time Misty and I had done so. Misty was just as wonderful trail horse as ever. She was so willing to go everywhere I asked her to go, and was very responsive to neck reining as I guided our stroll through the forest, in and around snow drifts, pass trees, fallen timber.

Our lunch break was in a clean clear cut area (we were in the national forest at that point) with a few snow melt drinking ponds, and a gorgeous view of the snow covered mountains around us.
Even though most of the ground on our ride was clear of snow, everywhere the ground was saturated with water, and most of the day if we were not trekking through snow the horse sank up to their coronary bands in grass covered mud. It was very easy to follow the trail of the group's leader(s).
As we came near the end of this forest/ back country trailride we came upon some beautiful mountain meadows that were full of early spring flora, and then a couple of forest ponds that made a very pretty setting for the group's photo opt.
After a good day's ride, everyone came in with a smile on their faces; only one woman came back with mud on her butt, from the kindly jigging of her horse in the snow and mud, and her slow dismount (butt first) from the saddle.
It was a very enjoyable, casual but exciting ride in places where one could NOT see the ground or the bottom of a snow drift and our horse found themselves up to their ass in snow.
It was a unique and fun ride for Misty and I.
Robin, thank you for sharing your photos.

Wish you and Kittee could have been there.

a day in the life --- Dale