| Issue #7 |
New Website
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Last of the Lady Road Agents
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What is Wrong With This Picture?
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If There is a Problem, Fix It
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Bargain Barn is Overstocked!!!
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Thanksgiving
on the Ranch
We was
settin' 'round the ranch house on the last Thanksgiving Day,
Tellin' yarns an' swappin' fables fer to pass the time away;
Fer the owner was religious an' had made it manifest
That there would n't be no ridin' on a day o' joyful rest;
An' we got in a discussion an' a heap o' talk was spent
Pro an' con an' vivy vocy what Thanksgivin' reely meant;
An I'll bet a workin' saddle 'gainst a pa'r o' hoss's shoes
That there never was another sich a scatterin' o' views.
Texas
Tony though 't was taught him when he went to Sunday school,
In the days when he was swimmin' in the Baptis' pious pool,
That it was a celebration that was started on the dock
When the Scribes an' Pharisees was landed onto Plymouth Rock.
Bronco Billy said he reckoned Tex had got his stories mixed,
That his mem'ry wheels had run too long without a-bein' fixed;
That the day, if he remembered, was a day o' jubilee
In remembrance of Abe Lincoln settin' all the negroes free.
Brocky
Jim, from Arizony, begged to differ, sayin' he
In his younger days had wasted lots o' time on history;
An' the day was celebrated in thanksgivin' fer the change
When the Revolution fellers drifted off King George's range.
Lengthy Jones an' Watt McGovern an' the Rio Grandy Kid
Coincided in believin', as the present writer did,
It was jest a yearly epock to remind us o' the day
When Columbus happened on us in a onexpected way.
Uncle
Dick, the ol' hoss 'ranger, sot an' smoked his pipe till all
O' the fellers with the question then at stake had tuk a fall,
An' when asked fer his opinion o' the matter said that he
Had his idee o' the objeck o' the yearly jubilee:
'T was a day when all the fellers so included could show their thanks
Fer whatever they'd a mind to by a-fillin' up their tanks
Till their legs got weak an' weary from a-carryin' the load--
He had spent the day in Denver an' he reckoned that he knowed.
James
Barton Adams
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 Price $299.00!
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Buckaroo Leather's
Exciting New Website |
11/29/09
Buckaroo John,
I am "busting at the seams" for the new Buckaroo Leather website to go "Live". And now it is almost here!
On Friday, December 2nd the new Buckaroo Leather website will be unveiled. The website will still be found at www.buckarooleather.com
I have been working hard with my web master, John Stacy, (thank you!) to make this new website easy to navigate, and very user friendly. There will be a lot new features available, like an affiliate program, updated dealer locator and, and of coarse all your favorite Buckaroo Leather products with a re-designed shopping cart.
To celebrate the brand new website and to start off the Holidays I am will be offering discounts of 10%-20% off. I will be announcing the details of these discounts via twitter and Facebook.
If you are not already following me on twitter and facebook -sign up now, or check your emails in the following days so you won't miss out on these amazing deals!!!
Some Hot New Products!!!
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Cowboy Histories & Stories |
11/29/09
Buckaroo John
There are many exciting stories from the old west told by cowboys and cowgirls of their lives, travels and struggles. I have quite a few of these stories written out on my Squidoo Lens. One of the recent stories is about the last women stage coach robbers, Pearl Hart. Below is a section of her story,
The Last of the Lady Road Agents
The era of the old west was
the most colorful period of our nation's history. It was a time when
notorious outlaws and brave lawman became legendary characters whose
name are more popular today than in the 1800s. By the turn of the
century though, the west was becoming civilized. Trains were slowly
replacing the older methods of transportation and most of the
desperados were either dead or in exile. The days of the stagecoach
robberies were past, at least the citizens of Arizona
thought so. On May 30, 1899 when two people stepped out onto the road
with guns drawn, and commanded the driver of the Benson-Globe stage to
"Halt!" and, the short career of Pearl Hart, who is known as "The Last
of the Lady Road Agents" began.
When the stage came to a stop, three nervous passengers
disembarked and obediently raised their hands in the air. They noticed
the bandits were an odd pair. One was tall, muscular and sported a
fancy moustache. The other smaller one appeared to be a woman whose
figure was poorly concealed. She was wearing a rough miner's shirt and
blue overalls, which were tucked into course boots that were obviously
too large. A few dark curls escaped from beneath the dirty cowboy hat that covered her head and the hands that ransacked the passenger's pockets were small and white.
The haul was not a poor one. A drummer had $290, a heavy set man
turned over $36 and a Chinese merchant added $100. The robbers seemed
content and the smaller one silently returned four dollars to each
passenger for bed and food. Then they rode off into the bushes and the
stage continued on its way at a fast pace. When it arrived in Globe,
the driver ran in and notified the sheriff and an excited posse set out
in pursuit of the dangerous renegades. The old timers, however, seemed
almost happy, for to them a robbery meant the old west was still alive and kicking.
Meanwhile the road agents who were clearly novices attempted to
cover their tracks. They were unfamiliar with the territory and spent
three days plunging across canyons and doubling back, only to find
themselves a few miles from the scene of the crime. When the posse
found them they were sound asleep on the ground. Neither one even had
the chance to spend a penny of their ill gotton gains.
Excerpt from the book " Daughters of the West" by Anne Seagraves
Read more of Pearl Harts Story Here.
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What's Wrong With This Picture
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11/29/09
John Silveira
What's Wrong With The Shoes In This Picture ? What do you see ? Tell me ?
Well Ok that was a trick question . There's really nothing wrong with those shoes. Those happen to be a pair of Aluminum Natural Balance shoes that came off the front of a horse i shoe. What i want to point out is the wear pattern . Those shoes have been worn down quite a bit , new they have much more metal at the toe area but these have alot of metal worn off , however the wear patterns are straight across the toe where they belong which is the best for the horse. OK ? Now take a look at the photo below.
Now what do you see this time ? Obviously the wear pattern is way too crooked on this shoe and that can be disastrous for several reasons. Bear that in mind while i run off on a tangent.
I don't shoe this horse in the photo above - if i were shoeing it you wouldn't see that problem . The foot is severely out of balance. It has alot of inside flare ( the left side of the photo the foot runs that way - and the other side of the foot has little support - see if you can visualize that - the wear pattern shows you how much foot is on the wrong side .
Sometimes i check other horseshoeing blogs , One in particular the farrier was complaining about those natural balance shoes , the ones you see in the top photo here. The shoes are great ! They reflect forward thinking and understanding what horses need to stay sound, they just need to be used correctly and put on correctly. If you notice on those Natural Balance shoes that the toe or the new shoe is actually squarish and not round , what that does is essentially create two corners on the shoe at the toe rather than a roundish toe - flat across the front of the toe and then a corner on each side ( easy ) . Well the farriers gripe was , he was saying "Look at the Wear Pattern" Look at the Wear pattern , and how this poor horse had to walk on that "Corner" of the shoe until it got all worn down where the horse could finally stop having to walk on that pointed corner. He gets upset like i do (-:
Well look , you see he was on the verge of a breakthrough. He was noticing wear patterns " GREAT " good for him . Wear patterns are important - if you know how to read wear patterns you'll make a big leap in understanding feet or how to become a better farrier. There's a simple fix for what this farrier was complaining about and it's just too bad he missed it ! Went right by him like cotton in the wind . That wear pattern on the shoe is a HUGE clue , but he just missed it.
The point here is for you to notice the wear patterns on your own horse , that wear pattern above is exactly one of the indications that somethings wrong with your horses shoes and can and does lead directly to lameness and it could be permanent lameness. Take this serious , you can easily go look at your horses feet and see if that wear pattern is straight across the foot or if it's crooked - if crooked i need to encourage you to get ahold of me and get it figured out. Easy to do just contact me personally at John@Care4Horses.com - you're getting consultation at "NO COST" - that's what i do. Ok ? Just do it ! go ahead !
Ok - there you go enjoy yourselves ,happy and safe riding and remember to always care4Horses
thank you
john silveira
650-921-5287
Author Bio: John Silveira, Farrier, Aikido practitioner, spiritualist, born and raised in San Mateo California the bay area. For information on his shoeing method and the 100% track record just go toCare4Horses and leave contact information.
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Leadership Secret Whispered by Horses - If There is a Problem, Fix It
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11/29/09
Jay Koch
I have noticed that people accept mediocrity in their relationships with their horses. Rather than fixing a problem, they will just accept it and live with it. Unfortunately, some leaders also do the same with their followers.
I have heard people say, "Oh, my horse doesn't cross water." Or, "My horse is afraid of plastic bags." Some people won't leave the property because their horses are "barn sour" and only want to run back home. Some won't ride alone because their horses get too antsy on the trail alone. I have been asked to not canter in an arena because it was making the other horses too nervous.
I know one woman who will only ride in an arena where there are no other horses. She holds her horse back with a tight grip on the reins and the bit pulled hard into his mouth so that he doesn't go to fast. She's so wound up that her horse gets wound up and excited, and she has to hold him down even tighter. Whenever she rides, it's a battle to see who can get control of their nerves better, and it's an accomplishment when the ride ends with no blow up. What's amazing is that she has ridden this way for thirty years and thinks it is fun.
There was one time my wife and I were about to go on a two hour trail ride with a group of people. I was going to ride a horse that hadn't been ridden for a while, and he wasn't used to being away from home. I decided to not go on the ride, and stay back and play with my horse to calm him down. I was disappointed, but it was the best thing for my horse.
During the ride, a friend of ours rode up to my wife and asked why I didn't go along. She said that I didn't want to get into a fight with my horse. Our friend replied,
"If I didn't have fights with my horse, I wouldn't get any riding done."
Sometimes, I just shake my head and wonder why people accept such mediocrity in their horsemanship. Most of the time, it's because they don't know any better. For them, it's normal to have a jumpy horse, or to fight with their horses. It's all they have known.
I am fortunate that my horsemanship instructors have shown me that if there is a problem, fix it. If I have a horse that doesn't like plastic bags or won't cross water, it becomes an "Oh, Boy!" moment, as in, "Oh, Boy! Here's a puzzle we get to solve." And the horse and I figure out a way for him to love going into water or being rubbed with a plastic bag.
If I have a horse that is excitable and gets nervous in new situations, he and I will go to new places and see lots of things. I will usually do this while I am on the ground first, because if my horse is nervous while I am riding, I get nervous, and the cycle escalates. If I am on the ground, I can be completely confident and allow the horse to jump around at the end of the lead rope until he tunes into my calmness. When he sees that, as his leader, I am calm, he will be, too. I will only ride him when we both are confident.
It's my job to get the best performance possible out of my horses. I don't accept mediocrity in their behavior, and I work on problems until they go away. Actually, these behaviors that I don't like are not really problems, but opportunities to improve. Oh, Boy!
I also wonder why people accept mediocrity in the people they are leading. If employees hate coming to work, and go through the day listless and non-responsive, should the manager accept such behavior? It's easy to say, "Those people in accounts receivable just don't work that hard." But, it would be better to work with them and figure out how to motivate them to be more productive.
As an example of a leader recognizing mediocrity, but doing nothing to fix it, I remember a time when I was giving a presentation about some new technology we were rolling out to the customer service representatives at the company I worked for. After I was done with my presentation, but still standing at the front of the room, a senior vice president stood up in front of the group and said,
"I have been getting a lot of complaints from customers recently that you people have been rude to them. This has to stop. If I keep getting complaints, we may just have to find people who can do this job better."
Not only was I astounded that this woman would speak to her employees this way, but I was embarrassed that I was still standing up there, which made it seem like I supported her. I looked around the room. Most people had their eyes down. Those whose eyes I could see looked liked puppies who had just been scolded for making a mess on the floor.
Just berating her employees and asking them to do better is sort of like that woman who rides her horse only in an arena. If the employees step out of line, she just pulls back harder on the bit to force them to behave. This same vice president was always mystified that there was a lot of turnover in that department. Like the rider who always blames her horse, this boss always blamed her employees.
That vice president could have said, "Oh, Boy! Here's an opportunity to make my company better." Let's imagine another scenario in which she would have said,
"I have been getting a lot of complaints from customers recently. What can I do to help you improve your interactions with our valuable clients? What makes you upset enough to make customers upset? What strategies can we use to help you be calm when a customer is unhappy? How can we take a difficult situation for the customer and make it better for them?"
Those employees probably would have been able to share some frustrations and give some suggestions. But, most importantly, they would be grateful for getting some help from management. If that vice president had offered to help her employees instead of threatening them, they would have been a lot more willing to work for the good of the company instead of against it.
Just like I feel it is my responsibility to help my horse through his problems, that vice president should have helped her employees be the best possible customer service reps they could be. Instead of searching for excellence, she accepted mediocrity. Instead of living with the problem, she should have fixed it.
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