From a chunk of metal to a chunk of metal and plastic = Moto4

I was probably about ten years old when my Grandpa Cliff gave our family his old 1986 Yamaha 350cc Moto4. Ever since then (being that old of a bike) it has needed constant repairs, which I always tried to do myself. But for that mean time us kids got plenty of use and abuse out of it…such as pulling sleds behind it or flipping it over or running into the house with it. Yeah, I was the one who ran into the house. Eventually it had to break down and it did about two years after Grandpa Cliff gave it to us. So every once in a while from when it broke down to now I have messed with it trying to figure out the problem with it but it wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that I finally found that problem. I completely took apart the carburetor and cleaned and checked all the pieces. I found that the main needle and needle seat (where the gas enters the carburetor) was all eroded and clogged. So I got all the best parts I could find off of other moto4’s around the ranch and put them on the one I was working on. I also cleaned out the whole air system. So after it was all put back together I pulled the pull start twice (since the electric doesn’t work) it fired right up...with a bit of smoke. But oh my gosh after about a week of working on it right after school and it starts up for the fist time in about three years I was pretty exited. So now I have my own four-wheeler that cost me nothing but time to get it. It’s pretty funny though because it feels like your riding a bucket of bolts that has a huge crack in the bottom and could fall apart at any time. Also the shifter lever broke off so until I get it welded I’m shifting with locking pliers. It also swerves from side to side on its own when you’re driving it. But all the lights work J!! For the most part though it’s a working four-wheeler that we just recently used for spraying thistles…and yeah…I’m still trying to figure out the problem with my dirt bike. I took it to three different bike shops and none of them could help me much. It’s extremely frustrating thinking that you’ve fixed the problem and putting it back together and it still doesn’t work right.

Starr Comes!

~*~ Tuesday the 17th of March Electric Starr was due to arrive at 2:30pm! I was pretty excited but still had doubts that maybe something would happen and the owner would have to postpone the trip down here. Well at about 2:00pm Cheryl and her friend called and asked for directions to our ranch, which meant that they were about 15 minutes away. I gobbled up my lunch and paced around the house waiting for the time to pass by. Pretty soon they called again and asked what house we were at! Mom and I ran outside and told them to come to the end of the driveway.
Then there he was. Well, the gooseneck trailer and four-door pickup truck at least. You couldn’t see him from the outside very good. Dad decided to go with us down to the pastures and see if he could “teach that horse a lesson or two.” Riiiiight. Anyway down at the pastures we unloaded Starr. He was alert and all, you know, wanting to know where he was, where his friends were, and when he could get away from that awfully, disgusting, weird smell. Which were the cows. Something he had never seen before and would take some getting used to. We decided it would be best to put him in the corrals to wait for the cows to come up to him and so he could get settled down and us not have to worry about him going through a barbwire fence ‘till we showed him the boundaries. At about 4:00pm Mom and I came down. Mom did ground work with Starr; she wouldn’t ride him today with all this new stuff going on. And I rode Miracle, who did an okay performance. Watching Mom work with Starr was pretty cool and I got to ride him later on. All I can say is that he is really a dream horse, but not what I would want for an everyday horse right now, because you always have to be pulling on the reins!
Surprisingly the next few days Miracle didn’t hang around the corral with Electric Starr. Instead he stayed with the cows or by himself! That definitely shows that Miracle is 33.3% horse, 33.3% cow, and 33.3% human! Since then Starr has settled in nicely even though he has ALL this energy and thinks that everything is SO interesting; the total opposite of Miracle. Well, I hope that was a nice enough report of Electric Starr Coming to his new home. ~*~

~Faith

Wonderfully Wasted Yesterday...

Yesterday Mom, Grant, and I took a 4-hour trip up to Kansas City to take home “Electric Starr” (my mom’s new horse.) All the way up there I read “Twilight” because I had run out of books to read and mom thought I would like the “Twilight Saga," which by the way, I loved. When we arrived I was bubbling over with excitement! I would finally have a riding partner! Grant and mom didn't seem even half as excited as I was. We arrived and went around back to the barn to find Cheryl - the owner – and a friend that helps her out. Starr was as beautiful as ever, even though he hadn't had a bath all winter, but the slight dish of his face and his color – a dapple gray, my favorite on a horse – and just the way he carried himself, like he knew he was stunning, was breathtaking. When he moves he carries his tail the way Arabian horses are supposed to and you can actually see him use his “springs” in his feet as if he were in slow motion. The time came to load him up and at first he was a little spooked of the trailer but that didn't last long. After a couple of minutes he put a foot up onto the trailer, the clang of his hoof hitting the boards startled him and he immediately retreated. An hour later we were still trying to get him to go in when it looked like he was actually going to; he put both front feet inside the trailer so he was half way in, but again the clanging scared him so he jerked up his head and what do ya think?! Starr hit his head on top of the trailer and got scared. After that he wouldn't even go near the trailer. So regretfully we had to put him back in his stall and take the 4-hour trip back home... without a horse. I was... well I guess you could say I was peeved. I was pretty sure we could of gotten Starr in the trailer if his owner wasn't so careful with him. The hardest discipline she would give him was a light tap on the rump. Don’t get me wrong! Starr is not in the least bit spoiled and may be an excited horse but still respects you! He has been excellently trained and is very smart. The reasons that I think he wouldn't go into the trailer was because he wasn't being pushed enough, he had been in a trailer only twice in his seven years, and for most horses a trailer is a pretty scary thing. With his owner there, mom didn't want to be firm with him, because the owner is the type that would freak out if you ever slapped a horse hard or anything. So, ya that is the story of my wonderfully wasted yesterday. Happy, happy, happy...

~Faith