Well, it's been a while since I posted a blog, and I apologize for that. It seems like every day I've been going 100 miles an hour from the time I get out of bed to when I get back in it! Things are starting to settle down a little now, and I'm getting back in the swing of things after being gone for a month.

During the 15/15 Bucking Battle in Sacramento, Calif., Caleb Sanderson got on Cowboy Casanova. When Cowboy left the chute, he turned back so close that when he made his first round, he kicked the chute gate. After that, he didn't have the trip he had been having lately, and I knew something had happened. Although Caleb made a textbook ride, Cowboy was off. When I checked on him in the back pens, he wasn't putting weight on his left hind leg. I had a pretty strong feeling he had injured his hock the same way he had done over a year ago. The next day, he was pretty stiff, so before loading him on the truck to head home, I ran him in and loaded him up with antibiotics. By the time I got him off the trailer, his hock (his hind knee) was swollen and he was really lame on it. It was about the most sickening feeling ever, but since he had the same injury before, I at least felt like I was prepared.

I arranged for K.J. Pletcher, who works for D&H Cattle, to pick him up in Albuquerque and drop him off with Dr. Mark Barker, who has a practice outside Oklahoma City. Dr. Barker discovered that he cracked the cap of his hock, and also injured a bone in his hip. They treated those injuries and kept him at the clinic for about a week. I was able to go get him this past weekend, and he is looking great! He doesn't seem to be in pain and the swelling in his hock has gone down substantially. Right now, I am keeping him pretty confined, and he has about four weeks to go before I will buck him at home and see how he feels. I really appreciate everyone who has checked up on him!

He has been bucking so hard lately, and trying to turn back so close that he is getting too close now. My game plan when I start bucking him again is to switch him to a left-hand delivery. When he was younger, I bucked him out of that side and he would go two jumps and around to the right. I don't know that he will do that now, but I think it will be good to change it up a little, and hopefully it will loosen him back up and he won't injure himself again kicking the chute or the gate.

I have a few new bulls I'm going to be bucking for the next couple weeks and hopefully can debut in Houston. Other than that, my days have been full of running around feeding cattle, doctoring, gathering, sorting. . . the list goes on! Also, McKennon has started getting on bulls again! It's been a little nerve-racking, but I'm so proud of him and can't believe how far he has come in the past year. He is riding awesome, too!  He hasn't missed a beat.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day with those that you love. I spent it with my boys: McKennon, my brother Rial and our friend Andrew. I also spent it cutting an infected horn off a bull! There's never a dull moment around here!

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