Lampert Ranch - Anaconda, MT

 

Once again Google maps sent us in the wrong direction, but Angel Lampert was able to locate us on the road and guide us into her ranch. We have a FULL hook-up ( sewer, water, and electric) and the horses have a large pasture to hang out.

The pasture is full of shrubbery which is supposedly tasty for horses. They don't seem to mind the shrubbery. 

There are two crab apple trees next to the pasture. I have been picking apples and throwing them around the pasture, so every day we stay here the horses have an Easter egg hunt for apples hidden in the pasture. It keeps the horses entertained.

There are no trails here to speak of. Our first day we rode through the acreage, down by the Clark Fork

River, and by a field of strawberries. No cows or bulls to worry about, but there were holes here and there and it made me nervous that Mercy was going to step into a hole and lose his footing.

After our ride, we went into Butte. Butte is the fifth largest city in Montana, about the same population as Los Gatos. However, there is no charming downtown. It looked pretty depressing with a lot of shuttered buildings and not much going on. 

This bar was probably one of the nicer places in the downtown area. I was enchanted by the leprechaun they placed on their roof.

We took a 90 minute historical tour of downtown Butte, which included a visit to the city jail and a speakeasy from the 1930s. Apparently, Butte was a big place for bootlegging during Prohibition.

Evel Knievel was arrested in Butte when he was 17 for reckless driving. Apparently, the guard on duty had a habit of rhyming the last names of arrestees. When Knievel's family came to bail him out, the guard called out "Knievel, Evil Knievel? You made bail." And, the name stuck.

 

The bar at the speakeasy. The speakeasy is underground and the wall that hid the speakeasy was boarded up by the feds. It was uncovered during a remodel in 2004. All the furniture, glasware, etc. was still there as it had been in the 1930s when it was boarded up.

This is the small band stage.

There is a small window that the bouncer could look through to see who was at the door. It was called a speakeasy because when you came to the door, you were expected to "speak easy" (softly) to gain entrance.

Carrie Nation apparently visited Butte, MT and was escorted out of town by the local sheriff because they weren't interested in her lectures. Carrie Nation led the temperance movement which brought about Prohibition. Her major concern was that the men would drink their wages and abuse their wives and children when they got drunk. She felt that if the men couldn't drink, then the families would do better. 

The ride on our second day was on the dirt road around the ranch. No shade, but I felt safer.

The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas

 On the way to our next stop, we made an easy detour to the The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas. It is well worth the stop. There is a small gift shop and a walking garden.

Ari never misses the chance to get a blessing. He asked a monk to provide a blessing that we have a safe journey. The monk told Ari that he (not Ari) was the sixth reincarnation of some famous monk. Ari was suitably impressed and very happy to get the blessing. He got a price of fabric to put in our trailer and one for our truck to protect us.

Throughout the garden are these stones with lovely quotations.

On the perimeter of the garden are these little talismans.

In the distance is a prayer wheel.

Inside each talisman is this figure.

At the center of the garden is this statue.

The back of the statue.

Each buddha has a sponsor and a name.

There is also a small koi pond.

It was a very lovely and peaceful visit. The garden is supposed to bring positivity in a negative world.

The Mystery of the Missing Tail

 

When I took Mercy out to saddle him up for our ride, I noticed the upper part of his tail had some major breakage. This happens when the horse rubs his tail because it is so itchy. He'll scratch on posts, railings, trees, pretty much anything.

Why is his tail so itchy?

One word....parasites.

Twenty years ago, we would deworm our horses monthly. Horses pick up fly eggs and other parasitic eggs when they graze.  They ingest the eggs. The eggs go into the GI tract and hatch into worms or larvae. Then when they poop, the larvae come out to start the cycle all over again. It feels itchy when the larvae come out in the poop. Too many larvae in the gut can make the horse very sick.

But vets no longer recommend monthly deworming. This is because the chemicals used to kill the parasites was causing the parasites to develop immunity. 

So, we had our horses' manure tested by the vet. We gathered a sample of fresh manure, took it to the vet, and the vet looked at it under a microscope. If the tech didn't see a lot of parasites in the manure, we didn't need to regularly deworm.

Because our horses were basically in the same barn, they weren't being exposed to a lot of new and different parasites. So, they didn't need to be dewormed.

But, now we are on the road. Our horses have been in cow pastures, horse pastures, grazing in the forest where deer, elk, and bear poop. They have been exposed to all sorts of new and different parasites. 

So...itchy butt!

Dewormer basically is a paste, about the consistency of toothpaste. Most dewormers have flavorings added, usually to make it taste like apples, so the horses don't spit it out.

You basically squirt a tube into the horse's mouth. The horse swallows the paste. The medicine goes into their GI tract and kills the parasites. Not all of the parasites, but enough to eliminate the itchiness.

We will be deworming monthly from now on.

It is a good idea to use a different dewormer each month. Different brands have different formulas and affect the parasites differently. By rotating the dewormers we can attack different parasites and also reduce the chance that the parasites build up immunity.

Some horses don't like having a tube stuck in their mouth and being force fed a bunch of medicine. To get around that, fill an empty tube with apple sauce and use that instead of medicine. Now the horse sees the tube and thinks - applesauce! yummy! I would give one tube of applesauce on day 1. On day 2 I would give the medicine. On day 3 I would give applesauce. Now the horse thinks odds are in favor of applesauce and he will no longer fight getting the medicine.

So, our horses don't argue about getting dewormed...after all, it might be applesauce. 

Hopefully, Mercy's tail recovers in a few months.

Day Two at the Windmill Cattle Ranch

 

Scott, the owner, offered that we could ride in the cow pastures since there aren't any trails nearby, so this morning we went into the cow pasture. We figured we would just ride along the perimeter by the fencing and stay out of the way of the cattle. We have ridden through herds before and most of the time the cows ignore us. This time a bull decided we were on his turf and decided to charge us. Our horses were not happy about being charged, so we skedaddled out of the pasture to safety.

So, we decided to ride on one of the side roads just to get the horses some exercise.

The mountains here are gorgeous.

There actually was a small side trail one of the homeowners had made to ride on with a sign called Artesian Trail. It was a lovely trail that ended at a small fish pond. It was maybe a quarter mile trail, but it was a nice diversion.

The ranch has it's own trout pond you can fish in and it is really beautiful.

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the ranch hosts a roping clinic so the locals can practice their skills. Ari & I set out lounge chairs and watched the action. These cows are so used to being used for roping practice they are not really concerned at all. Ari & I cheered on the cows. We weren't allowed to ride since we don't rope, but we enjoyed watching.

Windmill Cattle Ranch - St Ignatius, MT

 

Another horse motel as we work our way down into Utah.

Windmill Cattle Ranch is a very nice place for a layover. The owner even mucked out the stalls for our horses and the stalls are super clean.

Mercy and Lennox are in adjoining stalls with their own shelters. The stalls are good sized. Plenty of room and very nice.

We have water and electric hook-up for our trailer and the wifi is excellent. We were able to play bridge on-line with our friends for the first time in about a week. 

There is an issue with the water connection, but not sure how to fix it yet. Water comes into the trailer, but doesn't come out of the tap.

Of course, when provided with so much nice cushy sand the first task is to take a good roll in it.

The horses are getting used to  having cows near by. No more Scottish Highland cows, just good ol' American cattle. Windmill hosts a roping clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not sure if we will join in tomorrow. I tore my rotator cuff a few weeks into this trip and my right arm is still not 100%. Even when I am 100%, I am lousy with a lariat.

On Monday,we took a drive to the nearby Bison Reserve hoping to see some wild bison. We were not disappointed.

How's that for up close and personal? We also saw our first wild elk on this trip.