Horse Power

As school is set to begin, my truck and I are both screaming down the road again. Actually, it is I doing the screaming. (I call it singing if you recall from a past rambling. I look it as a form of self-defense. It sends deer flying. It works better than the little black things people stick on the roofs of their cars.) As I pass the Shell station I moan a little at the state of gas prices. Trucks do not do well in the gas mileage department. Each trip into work gets a little pricier. I suppose I could take my van. But, it is a mini-van, not a truck. My wife laughs at my weak stab at masculinity. So she suggests, take the horse.
I have no idea where I could park a horse at the school. Perhaps our maintenance man would appreciate the help in keeping the grass short. He would not appreciate the thanks the horse would leave in small, random piles. There is also the problem that I’m a horse rookie. I feel comfortable riding them, but it doesn’t look comfortable – or pretty.
I’ll leave that mental picture to settle with you for a bit. I want to get back to gas prices. Since I was grumbling, I thought I would check to see what others in the world pay for gas. Belgium was paying about $2 Canadian per litre. Norway is spending about $2.1 per litre. The rest of Europe is about the same. They have alternatives that are not available here. Because the cities are closer together public transportation is easier. There is just too much wide-open space out here.
So what’s a country like ours to do? Australia has a large agricultural base like Alberta. The price of gas in Australia is pretty close to ours, about $1.12 per litre. As it turns out, the feasibility of running a ranch with hundreds of cattle spread over thousands of acres has led some ranchers to search for new solutions. In fact, some of them are grounding their helicopters to round up cattle with horses. The Australian Cattle Company, one of the biggest ranches, makes their new jackaroos and stockmen take a one-week “Cowboy 101” course. They spend six hours a day in the saddle and learn hoof care, feeding and basic vet skills.
This leaves me with a choice between spending my money on gas (with a chance to sing), or to bounce in the saddle with my arms flailing. Or, even worse, take the mini-van.