The summer season has gone well with many appreciative guests who make us feel all our hard work is worth it. After a comparatively wet and cool spring we jumped to the hottest July and August on record since 1972. Plenty of water in our river and smaller creeks have helped us keep our irrigated horse pastures green and we are thankful to be so blessed with streams which always flow.
The Linda Tellington-Jones and Donna Snyder-Smith clinics were a great success and we expect to repeat both next year. It is truly inspiring to absorb some of the knowledge of these very talented instructors. The colts that were started in the TTeam clinic have been backed with little fuss and are now sallying forth on their first trail rides. Bayard, Mel, Richard and Tracy (our head wrangler) all participated in the centered riding clinic and have become more aware of the subtle interactions between horse and rider which make for a harmonious relationship. All participants learned how to hold themselves more effortlessly and reduce tensions making riding less stressful for the horses as well.
We moved our cows up from our lower ranch in early July and had a great week of cattle drives pushing them on up into the mountain pastures. We check on them frequently, but there is lots of grass this summer and the cows look terrific. Several times we have enjoyed watching a small band of wild horses living on Game and Fish land just to the east of the ranch. We have been able to ride quite close to them and it is fascinating to observe their behavior.
The fall colors have started to appear – a bittersweet time of the year. We are starting the fall roundup of our cows this week, which is always exciting, but also means that the end of another season has come.
