Saga of the Sanpitch Vol 30

Herding, Learning to Cut Tracks

Mother the range and Those helping hot noon-time fixed sandwiches for my lunch to be eaten out onhadjug of water slung from the saddle horn with the tail-end of lambing also with irrigating atedinner in the two-room ranch house At the ranch we had four high quality saddle horses recently shod for the spring work The top horse was out of my domain strictlymanhorse The other three were safe There was to be no fooling around when riding Each daywas well-mounted ongrain-fed horse however took it easy on them in order to conserve their energy Dad helped me to adjust the stirrups as short as possible on the adult saddlerode He said You need to be able to stand up in the stirrups when you re onground-covering trot DadUncle Jake lived at the ranch and told me When washerder liked to herd the sheep in rough country better feed This made good sense to me There Included in the 170 yearlingsherded were 12 black sheep Range sheepmen includefew black sheep used as markers along with the herd of white ewes Part of my job was to count the blacks each evening at sundown whenput the herd intocorral out on the range mile above the cultivated fields Ifherder is shortblack sheep he knows he has lostbunch of sheep that day One nightcounted only eleven Quickly in the corral ran the herd by eleven black sheep The country where rugged with several small steep hills at wheremust have not gone around the blacks How could this be again There were only they grazed that day was the upper area Thatcomplete herd Down at the ranch just before dark told Dad m outblack 142 counted