Thursday Sept 22-Back in the Saddle or Champ rides again

Howdy folks!
My boots are parked on the mat by the door and Champ is out grazing on a forward paddock after hauling this lovely traveller around the hills and dales of the Kootenay Rockies. He's worked hard and deserves a little time off. Tomorrow we have an all day ride to the top of the nearby mountain so he better have some down time!

I am currently at the 3 Bars Guest Ranch outside of Cranbrook British Columbia. It is owned by the Beckley family and it is truly a family place to be. The whole family is involved in the operation of the ranch, the reining horses (more on that later) and the guest ranch part. It is truly a fun place to be and I am learning so much. From the horse riding to the skeet shooting to the flyfishing and then there's the animal friends in the petting corral. All awesome.

We are housed in beautiful log cabins and there are 3 square meals a day that are not to be missed. There are rides in the morning for sure then the afternoons are different activities if you want. Or another ride if you want! They are all so accommodating here and want to make your time the best ever. They certainly succeed in that part.
My horse is Champ and he is a 20 year old guy that is so used to having some newbie on his back that he is very forgiving and adaptable. He waits to for you to figure out what the command should be then acts on it. If he gets confused he just stands and kind of looks at you with the "have you decided what you want yet?" look. We have come up with a group of signals that work for us and he spends a lot of time listening to me. I even got him to back up today! Yee haw!
Below is a picture of our wrangler Reagan leading me and Champ through the river. Below that picture is the entrance way into the main compound.

There is a great hot tub to wind the muscles down after a day in the saddle and I can tell you it really helps too. There are 3 other ladies I have met that are all here on their own. E, from England, has been sent by her work as she works for a horsey magazine; C, from Kelowna, is here for her 50th birthday celebration; B, from Kingston, is a great rider and loves the guest ranch experience and wanted to try this one. E and B are great riders and have much to chat about. C and I are just in it for the experience and are all having a blast. We all clicked from the first time we met, it's been fun.

The ranch is a cattle ranch as well as a barn that trains and rears reining horses. Reining is a form of western dressage and these horses (most quarter horses or type there of) are trained like athletes and treated with great care. Reining is a very difficult and athletic type of riding and it has garnered many awards for the Beckley family and they also train for other people. It's fascinating to watch a horse and rider go through their paces. The rider appears to make no motion or word to the horse and he or she knows exactly what is needed to be done from a set series of moves. Really something to watch.

I really wanted to try fly fishing and today I got a chance to. After a lesson from Tyler we were off to the St. Mary's river and some real trials. Okay so we didn't catch any fish we did get quite proficient at the casting manoevers.

There are lots of animals here, besides the horses. Many dogs; Marley, Max, Wiz, Tig, Bo Bo and Bruman all have jobs as greeters and moochers and are lovely. There is the petting corral with Bailey the donkey, two goats, two sheep, a bunch of chickens and some kittens. Bailey now greets me with a great long bray as I come along (feeding her fallen pears has helped with this). She is very huggable!

The lodge is a meeting place, bar, dining room, laundry and store. It is an amazing log structure that must have been something to watch being constructed. The logs for this and all the buildings came from the area. Really something and so solid. The accommodations are lovely and so comfy. There is a front porch with two chairs and a table on it and it's great to sit in the afternoon sun there.

What I've found here in the west is the large number of Australians that have come to work. Two of the wranglers, Rob and Matt, are Aussies and they are great fun. Both have loads of experience in all parts of the world and Matt came from a cattle station that had 40,000 cattle on it. This is pretty small potatoes for him but he's really enjoying his time here and is an expert horseman. Oh yeah, he races camels in Australia! What??? I guess there are over 1 million wild camels in Australia and people train them to race. Right......

There is another wrangler, Don, who is a retired dentist. Really he's had more crazy experiences that I have fingers and toes. From ski jumping to champion horsemanship and owning his own business in Lake Louise.  He's a hoot and is really good at telling really bad jokes and trying to pull our legs on things but he's such an asset for the ranch and I know he really loves what he gets to do here. Don always takes the newbies under his wing and is able to make them comfortable with what ever they're doing. He doesn't live on the ranch but in nearby Kimberly and comes in every day. Even retired he loves to get out and do stuff with his horse Wally and a group of guests.

Well folks. I think that's all I can think of for now. Surprisingly the internet connection has stayed okay for this go round. I'll see if I can post this. I know there's more stories in my little brain but I'll just have to sort them all out before I write again.

So I'll giddee up and get dressed for bar time before dinner.

G'day mates!