Monday, May 4, 2020

One of the Best Episodes of As The Gate Swings...

Kiowa, our precious Tiny Dancer - and the biggest flirt ever...



One of  the very best episodes of "As The Gate Swings" we ever watched here at Hideout Ranch involved Kiowa, our adorable paint pony. Our cherished friend, Monique, had been diagnosed with cancer in 2011. After breaking that unpleasant news to us, she asked us to take her horses. She had two mares - one, a delicate Arab-Quarterhorse paint who looked like a yearling for her entire life. The other, Peppy, was a chestnut Quarterhorse mare who only let Monique on her back. When they came here, we chose to let Peppy keep her name and be officially retired. She was Monique's horse, and would always be Monique's horse.

The delicate but saucy paint, being decidedly younger, we eagerly added to "the string" and gave her a "Hideout name". Lonesome Dove, the book and the movie, was one of Craig's favourites, and served as source of many names. There is a line Gus McCrae says to Woodrow F. Call about the grey mare Call is attempting to break as the movie opens. After the mare throws Call then bites him, Gus warns him you "can never trust a Kiowa mare" - The Kiowa were one of the many Plains native tribes. The line always amused me, and I was only too excited to call a mare "Kiowa", hence a play on "Kiowa mare". However, we could trust our Kiowa. She was steady and solid out on trail, and the apple of every little girl's eye who came to ride with us.

Kiowa was a flirt. AND she had Craig wrapped around her little hoof. She darted through the gate one night, charging from the bottom pasture into the upper one because, ostensibly, she liked the boy horses in the upper pasture better. Of course, Craig let her do what she wanted because, well, he was Craig. Kiowa immediately took up with Logan, one of our "Sackett" boys. He was an elegant grey, personable and adorable. Logan didn't really know what to do with all the attention, but he took up with our brazen hussy and let her call the shots. 

Logan, one of our "Sackett" greys...

All seemed well and happy in the Upper Pasture, Kiowa and Logan snoodling and canoodling all around. Well and happy, until... Mac.

Mac, our "drug horse", proving bad treatment doesn't always ruin a good horse...
Mac is a tall blood bay gelding we'd gotten from a local ranch. He was named for Tom Selleck's character Mac Traven in "The Shadow Riders", a Louis L'Amour story. As the story goes, Mac was used by the cartels to carry bundles of drugs across the border, and was confiscated by the DEA. One side of his body has scars and indentations from the drugs being strapped too tightly to him. Mac played a significant role here, and there is much more to tell about this unbelievable animal. But, I will strive to focus on this one episode.

Kiowa and Mac...
We'd turned Mac out in The Brat Pack (brace yourselves, there are loads of stories there...), a very tight-knit group of geldings. Josh, our wrangler, kept an eye on the getting-to-know-you process. Things in a group of big, boisterous boy horses, all with shoes all around, can get dangerous during these introductions. He realised the Brats were not letting Mac near the water, so he made an executive decision to move Mac from the Brats to the Upper Pasture with Wyatt, Hawk, Kiowa, South, and Logan. Well...

Hawk, the gentlest giant...


















Kiowa brazenly ran up to Mac, cooing and flirting, saying "Oooooh, you're new here! You're tall and dark and handsome - and you're dangerous. You have a past." There were squeals and stomps and some running about, but everyone soon settled down. Then, poor Logan realised he'd lost his girl. He was dejected, of course. A little listless. Wandering around.Then, Hawk walked up and nudged him, saying, "Hey man. Sorry about your girl. Come on. I'll buy you a beer..."

From then on, Logan and Hawk were inseparable. I would have to give Hawk a treat in order to take Logan from the pasture to ride. Hawk would wait for Logan to come back and pelt him with questions about the trail and what happened and did he eat my granola bar at lunch.

Kiowa and Mac did remain a couple - with one amusing hiccup - which we will keep for another day...



Logan (l) and Hawk (r) became inseperable...




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