Hi Everyone! We have had a wonderfully busy couple of weeks at the ranch. We hosted our first guest week of the season and then rolled right into shoeing the herd for the start of the season. Des and Shayne chose two interns to join us this season, Liz & Lainey! Liz will officially be joining the crew in May and Lainey mid-April. We welcomed another member of the staff, Hannah Rae this week! She will be assisting Brooklynn in housekeeping. We are almost a full house! Our first guest week was a ton of fun and we enjoyed spending time with old and new friends in the arena. Tommy just left us ..read more

Hi Guys, This last week we have been busy in the arena doing a deep clean from floor to ceiling to prepare for the upcoming guest season. Every surface of the arena is attended to throughout the week. We clean everything from the tops of the tack rooms, to the baseboards, ceiling, beams, heaters, mirrors, lights and so much more. We always have some entertaining finds as we clean the arena. One of which was the fact that somehow arena sand ends up on the beams near the ceiling (talk about stopping hard enough to kick the footing up!). The other is we KNOW Spring is here because the darn flies ..read more

Hi Everyone, We just finished up our annual working intern tryouts at the ranch. Shayne and Des invited 5 ladies to the tryouts at the ranch this year after reviewing tons of applications for our internship program. Sam, Skylar, Helena, Lainey, & Liz had the opportunity to stay with us for six days and show us all that they know and have the opportunity to learn! They had the unique experience of getting to ride and learn from Shayne & Des for 5 days in the arena, each getting to experience different horses throughout the week! We started off the the week by having the girls have a re ..read more

Des, Sami, Jenna and I have enjoyed time riding with Shayne this week and receiving his instruction and feedback. One of the phrases he has offered us to remember is “Their (the horse) feet are your responsibility.” He is adamant that we ride the horse in such a way that his feet are ours to direct. Shayne is teaching us some movements of the horse that keep their withers elevated and lighter on their feet. He said the horse is so much happier when his front feet are not buried in the ground, and you have access to any of his movements at any time because he is more balanced and rocked back ov ..read more

This past week has been quite busy here at the ranch. For the first two days of the week, we were trimming feet with our farrier, mentor and teacher Tommy Kilgore. Then a day later, our veterinarian Dr. Bob Genovese came out to assess a few horses with injuries and inject a few others who needed a little joint support. In each experience, the learning was challenging and the focus needed was at a very high level. I frequently remind myself that there is blessing in the challenge. When the learning is steep, when master knowledge fails to be understood and when doubt filters in that your mind ..read more

              These two pictures were taken in the same location just under two weeks apart on McGinnis Meadows Road. It amazes me how quickly nature can change; circumstances can change and the unexpected appears. So far this winter, besides a cold snap, it has been rather mild up here in northwest Montana.  No matter how technologically savvy our society becomes, we cannot create what nature withholds, nor can we push back what nature brings. It might be a drought year here at the ranch this spring and summer, so preparation and planning will be of th ..read more

Hi Everyone, We’ve been busy this week finishing up a few projects around the ranch. One major thing we do in the winter is regularly go through and groom the entire herd of 80 horses. Even though we see them every day to check for any wounds or skin funk, we still like to make sure their bodies get a good once over. They get the full treatment of body, mane, & tail. Today Brooklynn, Jenna, Brenda, and I all went through and gave everyone some love! Many of the boys enjoyed the shedding blade and having their hair done. We have quite a few with the farm temps who needed more funk treatmen ..read more

Hi Everyone, Here’s a little excerpt from Brenda from this past week with the extreme temps! I am currently hovering over a hot cup of tea. It is just after 5 pm and -10 degrees. This morning, the temperature was -42 degrees at 9 am. Such temps call for living in layers and layers all day. When it is this cold, it is all-hands-on deck. Yesterday evening we did a night check of the horses at 9 pm, 11 pm and then an early morning check at 2:30 am and 5:30 am. I imagine we will be doing the same this evening.    When arctic weather comes our way, prevention is key. Horses are fed twice ..read more

Since November 30th ChaCha has been with Jenna, Sami and I – collectively known as “The Aunties” while Des and Shayne were on vacation. We of course fed her and took her for long adventurous walks, but we also got to love her… and (shhh) maybe even spoil her. I took some pictures over the five weeks she was with us that capture some of her personality and charm. I am sharing them with you now.   Here is a little back story on ChaCha that you might enjoy reading.  She arrived as a small pup to the house of Shayne and Des four years ago in February. She was so small you could hold her ..read more

Most of us, if we turn on the radio, will hear the tunes of Christmas carols and Christmas songs – some old, some new. There is one Christmas song that my mother used to sing to me as a child. The song is called “Away in a Manger.” One of the verses reads, “the cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying He makes.” Our cattle here at the ranch are long gone, having been shipped months ago. But I wonder, if we still had cattle this time of year, would we have made room for a mother in labor if she and her husbandappeared at the ranch searching for a warm place to de ..read more