Ranch Life

So I spent the last 5+ months living and working as a wrangler on Tumbling River Ranch located in Grant, Colorado. We had no cell phone service and very limited internet. I know that's not an excuse for my lack of updates, and I'm sorry. But here we are!

So the ranch, like I said, was home from the last snow storm in May until the first snow storm in September. I worked primarily with the horses leading trail rides and giving horseback riding clinics as well as taking care of the herd. I joke that I made 75 new friends this summer, all of which had 4 legs. It's true! I love those ponies. But here are a few pictures of the summer. Enjoy!

Montana! That's my hat!

The Ladies of TRR ready for a Square Dance (the weekly Friday night activity. Let me tell you, I'm good at dancing in a square now!)

This is Berkeley. He got sick early on in the summer- he's fine now, but I stayed up the night with him. What a sweetie!

This is our overnight camp site. We do an overnight pack trip that goes up to Geneva City, a really neat ghost town right at timberline, then head down to our permanent camp site where we "glamp". "Glamping" aka Glamorous Camping, consists of a three sided lean-to complete with roof and mattresses and sleeping bags, hot french onion soup waiting for us when we arrive, and all of it is located in the grassy horse pasture. So, you wake up with the horses right outside your lean to, ready for a day of riding! So cool!

Fourth of July. The ranch (staff and guests) split into two teams, red or blue, for the week and had a massive field day on the 4th to see which team was better. Obviously I was on the red team and obviously we won. 

Leading a guided hike to Square Top Lakes, in the shadow of Mount Bierstadt.

I really want to find these helmets and buy them in real life.

Best friends.

Classic trail ride.

We saw an elk and these two didn't know what it was!

Dressed up for Hootenanny, an embarrassing night where we as a staff serenaded the guests in a roast/toast of the week. Also, Sarah from the ship came and worked at the ranch for the month of August. Clash of two VERY different worlds. But I loved having her!

Look at those fall colors! This is a ride we did that followed the Abyss Lake Trail for a bit, the turned right and followed the base of Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt for a while.

I got really good at taking selfies on horseback.

A Real Rodeo

As I mentioned earlier, my summer at TRR was full of horses and fun. Every weekend, we would throw together a little Rodeo and anyone at the ranch could participate. We had barrel racing, keyhole, and flag racing as the horse events, as well as a wheelbarrow race and an egg toss for fun. Anyone (kids to grandparents, staff to guests) could do as many of these events as they wanted, and it was a really fun, really special way to end a great week with our guests. My favorite parts, however, were the wrangler only events where we basically showed off. Now, those of you who know me know that I will do anything to avoid the spotlight and "showing off" is not even remotely in my vocabulary, but I did enjoy these times at the rodeo because we let loose and just had a boat load of fun.

Here are some pictures of the rodeo. I hope you enjoy!

This is the flag race (on a horse named Duke. He's the fastest in the herd!)- you race around one barrel and pick up an orange stick, round the corner of the second barrel and drop the stick into another bucket. The person with the fastest time who can cleanly pick up and drop off the stick wins!

Warming up for one of the wrangler only events with Bueno.

Me and Freckles during the Pony Express Race. One of the wrangler only events, we split into two teams and have to race around a rectangle outlined by these poles. We had to hand off a saddle bag containing "mail" like the real pony express back in the day, and the team that had the fastest time won.

Victory lap after winning the Pony Express. That's me with my hand raised. 

Stacey came up to watch the Rodeo one day.

So did Mom. It was fun having them and showing them around!

Grand Entry on Boonie. 

And that's the rodeo, folks! It was a blast!