Diego

I spent the last couple days of last week helping some friends move cattle from one allotment to the next. I didn't think to take my camera so no pictures. It felt real good to get out in the hills on horseback. I rode Diego both days and he did well. He is turning into a real nice horse. The only problem I had with him is he threw a shoe and I had to try and stay out of the rocks on the last day. This coming Wednesday I'll be doing a clinic for the Cassia County 4-H Working Ranch Horse Program. I'll have about 10 young riders eager to learn to work a cow. It will take most of the day. I think I'll take Diego as a demonstration horse. It should be fun.

This post looked pretty bare with no photos so I turned Diego out into the arena and snapped a few pictures of him. As you can see he is a thick well built horse with a good hip. He was easy to start and has been fun to work with. He has progressed quickly in his training, has a pleasant personality and is eager to please.

 Diego's registered name is Colonels Double Oak. He is by an Equistat Leading Reined Cow Horse Sire, Colonels Oak, and out of the mare, Double Nita. Nita is a full sister to the National Reined Cow Horse World Championship Snaffle Bit Futurity Finalist (5th place) Santana Dry. Although he is certainly bred to be a show quality Reined Cow Horse, I have not shown in any Cow Horse Events since 2005. I have kept and trained him as a horse for pleasure- to trail ride, to do ranch work on, and to just have fun with. Diego turned 6 years old this spring.

 His full sister was my most successful show horse, Miss Colonel Nita. I won the 2005 Intermountain Reined Cow Horse Novice Non Pro Snaffle Bit Futurity Circuit Championship riding her. We placed in the money at every show we entered that year. Diego is the same quality of horse as his sister.

I originally intended to ride him until he became a finished bridle horse in the Great Basin Buckaroo Tradition and sell him, either privately or at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale in California. He has become such a nice horse that it is going to be tough to let him go. To complicate matters, my 12 year old granddaughter is becoming a good rider- she will need  to 'step up' from the old mare to a better horse soon. She has been trying out Diego and his 3/4 sister, a mare we call Tornado. After the County Fair in August we'll decide which horse she wants to continue with and consequently if I'll consider selling Diego.