I was just sitting… trying to think of a cool title for some of the things that have been in my thoughts. The above came to mind.. I can’t get my mind off of Wyoming. I find myself constantly reminiscing about the numerous places that I explored on horseback… the never-ending meadows filled with willow bushes, the Buffalo Fork river with it’s constant rush of snow-melt, the rocky hill-climbs that led straight into the back country of Wyoming, and the endless miles of untouched soil. Sounds poetic, I know… I miss that place. I miss the feeling of riding my horses and spurring them on to as fast as they could possibly go… I lost count of how many times I lost my well-fitted black cowboy hat to the wind.

My best memory of riding was going back out to Lower Pendergraff Meadow out in the back country. I went out with Daniel, one of the other wranglers, one day with a string of four or five pack mules. We were setting up camp out there, getting ready for a three-day fly fishing trip. I’ll never forget the feeling of going from what already seemed and looked like paradise at the ranch to what was unmistakably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to… Lower Pendergraff. The farther out we rode, the greener and more lush the landscape became.. the rocky hills grew taller into small mountains, covered in fresh-smelling pine. We rode in silence almost the whole way. Granted, there was a string of five mules inbetween us… but the beauty of that place almost demanded of us that we be quiet. I think Daniel and I spoke no more than 20 words to each other over the three and a half hour ride out. Click to continue »

I can’t seem to get my mind off of my summer spent out in Wyoming… so I figured I wouldn’t stop posting more pictures of what I did there and the places that I experienced. It’s on my mind, so why not share it?

Turning our herd of 85 horses loose at the end of the day…

Coming back from a long but beautiful ride up Rosie’s Ridge.

The most photographed barn in the United States… Jackson Hole, WY.

Just a few more pictures of life on the ranch and out West.

Me saddling up Sparky… one of our quarter horses.

My horse, Pepperoni, and I out riding in the back country of Wyoming.

I’m counting down the days until I can be home again. I’ve been away for three months now… I believe it’s the longest time I’ve been away from my family for one time. It’s been an incredible experience, and I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything. I got to fulfill one of my life’s dreams by working with horses this summer.

It’s been a rainy and lazy day at the ranch… I went for a walk with Daniel, Jen, Brittany, and Amaris earlier before it started raining. We walked down to the bridge and put our feet in the river. It’s so cold… your feet hurt when you come out. We’re at 7000 feet, and the Buffalo Fork River that runs through the ranch is virtually all snow-melt from the long winter. It’s been high the last few days.

We played monopoly this afternoon. I haven’t played that in a long time.. so intense when you start getting into it. :) We’re about to go eat dinner and then head into Jackson to watch the Dark Knight. I’m so pumped. It’s going to be good.

We’re starting to wrangle up at 2-mile pasture this week… the days are going to get long. We have to ride two miles up the road to the pasture and then herd all the horses down back to the ranch… then we have to herd them all back up to the pasture at the end of the day. Talk about getting up at 4:00 a.m. and working until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. Long days.

One of my horses is a young mare named Alice. She’s a light brownish red color… what we call a sorrel horse. She’s got a thick mane and a really pretty face. Along with her good looks and build, she’s got quite the temper and attitude problem. She’s new to the ranch as of about three weeks ago… I’ve ridden her several times already, and I’m working with her to try and teach her to be a lead horse. The vast majority of the horses we have are “dude” horses, meaning they were only trained to follow in a straight line behind another horse. If you try to lead with them or get them to go out by themselves, they balk, circle around, paw the ground, and occasionally kick and crow-hop.

Back to my story… the other day was just like any other day, except I was going to ride Alice, instead of my other horse. It took me a good ten minutes to catch her in the corrals, followed by another fifteen minutes trying to get her out of the corrals. Once I did, I tied her up and began to groom her. She wasn’t liking it. Every time I would get close to her, she would swing her backside in my direction in order to kick me with her back legs. We continued to play this little game… I finally got her saddled. I tied up the cinch strap that holds the saddle on, but I didn’t tighten it. I always wait to tighten the cinch until I’m about to get on. She still would not stand still. I finally untied her and walked her over to another pole away from the commotion of the barn. I was nearing the pole… I was about five feet away when she jerked the rope out of my hand, ran through me, and started bucking down the alley way we were in. She bucked hard — harder than many of the rodeo broncs I’ve seen down in Jackson. She bucked the whole 50 yards down the alley way… she kicked her back two legs up higher than her head every time. Halfway down the alleyway, my saddle slipped underneath her onto her belly… now in full range of her kicking legs. She got to the end of the alleyway and realized the gate was closed, so she bucked her way back up. On the way, she shattered one of my stirrups and broke the leather strappings that held the saddle on. My saddle flew off of her, and she stomped on it on the way down. Once the saddle was gone, she slowed down enough for me to grab the rope and calm her down..

My saddle was laying in a pile of dust and broken, scatched leather. I didn’t end up riding Alice that day. I decided that I’d give her the day off to cool off. It was pretty exciting… despite her temper and attitude, I underestimated her. I never thought she had it in her to buck that hard. We’ll see how she does next time I get on her…

The first thought that came into my mind when I heard “horse whisperer” was some sort of man with the ability to actually converse (in some form or another) with horses in a way that he could take an un-tamed, un-broken horse and ride it safely after “talking” with the horse.

It’s been over two months now since I’ve been out here in Jackson Hole, Wyoming… working as a horse wrangler at a ranch called Turpin Meadow. Over the last few months, I’ve learned more of what it means to be a horse whisperer. My original thought, as I said earlier, was not too far off from what a horse whisperer actually is… though there is nothing supernatural about being a horse whisperer. I’ve been blessed to learn how to understand horses and the ways in which they think and act… and in doing so, I’ve learned that being a horse whisperer is about having a teacher/student relationship with your horse, rather than one of master/slave. It’s about being able to read and understand what a horse is thinking and doing – recognizing their attitudes and, in turn, dealing with them accordingly. As one man told me recently, “Deal with the attitude, and you won’t have to deal with the action.” It’s about being a friend and teacher, rather than someone who dominates and enslaves.

The last few days, we’ve been working with two of our younger horses down at the corrals… they’re both three years old, and neither of them have been ridden more than one or two times ever. They’re un-broken, as many people would call them. One is a beautiful light brown mare named Ginger. She’s got a black wavy mane and tail and white socks from her knees down. If I had to choose a horse from our herd of 85, hands down, she’s the most beautiful. The other is a guelding named Angel Boy. He is a lighter brown than Ginger with a white blaze down his face. He’s also got a light brown mane and tail… easily in the top five of my favorite horses in our herd.

It’s been an incredible learning experience being a part of “breaking” Ginger and Angel Boy. There are different ways to break a horse. One way is to simply saddle him up and buck him out… the way I have learned is a longer and slower process, but it develops a friendship and trust in the horse. It’s about understanding the horse and teaching him that you are a place of refuge and friendship — not domination, terror, or fear.

I could continue writing for pages and pages about the specific things I have learned… maybe sometime soon I’ll write again.

This is the view out of my window… just some beautiful snow-capped mountains called the Grand Tetons.

A black bear that I saw in Grand Teton National Park… it had just swam through the river, and it’s cub was right behind it. I was about 30 yards away.

A coyote I came across in Yellowstone National Park… I was about 7 feet away from it when I took this picture.

Just some of the beautiful wild flowers that are in the back country of Wyoming… commonly referred to as “God’s country.”

Saturday… I woke up in time to see the clock strike 5:45 a.m. I had to be at the pasture at 6:45 a.m. to wrangle the 85 horses we have into the corals. I dosed back off to sleep until 6:30… I finally crawled out of bed and into the bathroom. I turned the water faucet on… nothing came out. Our water supply comes from a hose that’s hooked up to the back of our little shack… and is also shared with the girl’s trailer next door. The girls got to the showers before us… yet again. :)
I got dressed… wrangler jeans, two t-shirts, a button-up flannel, my coat, three pairs of socks, my burgundy-colored boots, and my black-felt cowboy hat. I walked over to the back pasture in time to meet the rest of the wranglers getting ready for another day.
It was a slow morning… we wrangled 85 horses into the corals in order to catch 6 of them for the 6 guests we had riding. I took three guests out up to Suicide trail. They were all from Tennessee… and all wearing TN Vols hats. It reminded me of home.
It was my half day, so after lunch I put a load of laundry in and then saddled Apache, my Appaloosa horse. He used to be a rodeo horse — his gallop is smooth and fast. I went out with three of the other staff to go trail blazing. We just went exploring through some of the woods, and then we found a trail that went straight up one of the back mountains. We followed it, and I discovered it was the back end of Clear Box trail. It was a beautiful ride. It was about 60-70 degrees all day with a breezy wind… and completely clear blue sky. It was a perfect day for riding. It was good to get out and do some “real” riding.

It’s June 7th… and it snowed all morning today. I’ll admit, it’s a little strange riding horses in June with snow coming down. Our “summer” season has started, and we just finished our first full week of having guests on the ranch. It went well, despite having several riders thrown from their horses. The very first ride I led with guests was this past Monday. Two other wranglers and I took 15 guests out on Beetle Kill Trail. I led the ride, and it went well up until near the end. We were coming down a steep and muddy slope, and one of the horses (Cracker) reared up and threw its rider off. The older lady (actually about 80 years old) wasn’t hurt too bad other than a lot of bruising and scrapes… but it was pretty crazy trying to take care of the whole situation. A lot of the other horses got spooked, and it was hard to remain calm while also taking care of 18 odd horses and riders. One of the other riders stayed with the older lady while one of the other wranglers rode quickly back to the ranch to get a car. I led the riders back to the ranch, while also leading another horse behind me… it was a long and eventful day. I felt “privileged” to have lost the first rider of the season.

Yesterday was another long morning. It poured rain all morning, and over the course of the morning on three different rides, three other riders were thrown/fell off their horses. It was a record for one day.

It’s my half day for the rest of today which is such a beautiful feeling. I’m going to drive into Jackson in a little while to get a few things and get off the ranch a little. There is so much more I could write about, but I don’t really know where to begin. My family came up this past weekend, and I was able to take them riding… we also went into Yellowstone for the day on Sunday. We saw a black bear and her cub on the edge of Grand Teton National Park on our way back. I could also write about our night out to this cowboy restaurant called Bar J Wranglers… and the ride I took up Rosie’s Ridge earlier this morning with some of the other wranglers (we galloped and trotted the majority of the way which was an incredible feeling). For lack of time, I’ll end here… and I will hopefully put more pictures up in the not-so-distant future.