rch 26, 2012
HI FAMILY!!! ! you are all amazing!!! How are you feeling today?
Great!??? I hope so!!!

I want to tell you of an adventure! On Saturday we got to do
something really cool! On the Native American reservation for the
Paiute and Shoshone tribes, they were branding cattle and team
roping! Since we know Leona Hicks on the Reservation (who is the
coolest person ever!!! also really old so she knows everything
and everyone)... we got invited to go! Oh, and it was also in her
backyard!!

It started off where we stood against the fence and just watched.
There were about 30 Indians there. 2 little boys came over to us
and gave us water bottles! So we eventually made it over closer
to them, until we were sitting on the back of their trucks with
them! We laughed and threw water bottles at the cowboys, and took
pictures, and just chilled with them. It was SO GOOD. We didn’t
know them, and they didn’t know us, so the bonding time was
excellent. I’m going to give them the pictures I took.

In the beginning of the day, they vaccinated over 140 head of
cattle....and then they took a brake before the team roping. All
the Natives sat on their horses and drank! HAHA so funny. They
shot jokes at each other. Then, the fun began.....

Team roping is tough and takes a lot of muscle!!! It was soo cool
to see it!!! With their lasso, someone has to rope the head of
the cow, and someone else the feet. Once it is roped it falls on
the ground ...then another man comes over and has to flip the cow
over on the correct side! This sounds easy, but the cows are
bucking and running and going crazy. The cowboy has to, as soon
as the cow is roped, twist the rope around the horn on his
saddle, and that keeps the cow from running off. So the horse is
keeping the cattle from running. They have to be careful--fingers
can be cut off, and arms broken.

...Soo all day we watched them chase after cows!  When the cow
was on the ground, they sat on it, and someone branded them,
their balls were cut off, and they were vaccinated twice in the
chest, ALL at the same time, while they are tied down from both
ends and someone is sitting on them, another person has their
boot on their neck. They are STUCK! Sucks for the cows!!!! :(
They made crying sounds ha!

I’M SO coming back when they brand the horses on the
reservation! AND in the fall, I want to take part in the action
in the ring!

The funny thing is...they had a "ball bucket" and they tossed all
the cows testicles in there. Then someone strung them on a wire
and cooked them over the same fire that was heating the branding
irons! These are men! They snacked on the cow's balls! Haha! So
awesome. We laughed when a 5 year old said "I want another cow
ball! " .....so they are branding, wrestling cattle, have bloody
hands, are drinking, and trying to catch the darn things in the
first place. Funny. SO exciting! I WANT TO BE A COW GIRL!
Seriously, all I have been learning up here is about trucks,
farming, the Calgary stampede, rodeos, barrel racing, team
roping, raising horses, braking horses, dogs, horses horses
horses!!!! .... Like everything!!! So many members have horses
too...I’ve seen HUNDREDS! I've learned so much!!!!!!

At the end of the day, everyone went into Leona’s small house
and had dinner!!
I hope you all have a blessed spring and summer!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU
ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
LOVE SISTER SPROUSE!!!