Wow! I think I finally caught up with my paperwork (except, of course, filing my taxes!). I’m ready to rock and roll. But first, I promised Alan I would write a little about where the horses stay. It’s three locations: the Covered Wagon Ranch during our season, which is June through September,then on to winter pasture at Raspberry Butte Ranch, in Big Timber, and, for a select few, some stay at our home in Bozeman. Even though Satin, Oprah, Nina, Rebel, Alfie, Blue and Lido work as dude horses in the summer, we winter them at our home. They were personal horses before Jerry and I bought the ranch.

Raspberry Butte Ranch is where JT and I will eventually live, but it’s hard to give up our home in Bozeman at the moment. Besides, with real estate where it is, who would buy it anyway? In 2005 we built an indoor riding arena, which allows the horses to be worked during the winter. We usually have Jeremy work the younger horses or those that could use a little more “saddle time” as they get started. Once the season is over, Jeremy and Darlene live in the ranch house that’s on the property, and JT and I keep a small apartment in the arena, as we travel back and forth from Bozeman. Our home in Bozeman is about an hour from the CWR. Raspberry Butte Ranch in 1 and 1/2 hours from Bozeman to the north east, and is 2 and 1/2 hours from CWR.

When the horses are at the Covered Wagon Ranch, we have limited corral space. You may or may not know this, but we don’t own the land down the canyon. The Covered Wagon is on leased land from the Forest Service, and it only sits on 18 acres. For those horses that are not being worked that week, we put them up on the 2000 acre grazing permit we have with the Forest Service, which starts up the hill behind the ranch. That’s why we wrangle them up the mountain on Saturday night and bring the ones we need back down on Monday morning.

So, that’s how we keep our horses. Make sense, Alan?? 🙂