Jack retired
He is our fabulous foreman at the home farm. Jack doesn't have much formal education, but he makes up for that with his life long love of, and experience with, stock horses. He grew up on his grandfather's ranch in New Mexico, where he met his wife, Ruth. They married young and had 2 sons and a daughter. When the ranch went bankrupt due to his father's mismanagement, Jack and his family were adrift. Through pure chance, he met my parents at a campground in Yellowstone and during the conversation, they offered him a job, and the rest is history. Don't know how we would survive without him and his vast knowledge of all things horse. Jack is now family.
Ruth retired
Jack's amazing wife and the best cook in the world! If you have ever had the amazing snickerdoodles that are always available in the office and tack room, Ruth made them. And she doesn't share the recipe. Ruth is also in charge of the office and is the resident therapist. Anyone with any kind of problem knows they will get a hot mug of tea, a great slice of pie and a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on from her.
Andrea moved
My head trainer and surrogate daughter. She is young, only 28, but has an innate ability to draw the best out of any horse she gets near. She grew up in Norway with her parents and older sister, Cate, where they had a small country place but always a couple of horses for the girls. Both came to the US for school and took a lot of equine classes, although Andrea got her degree in math and Cate's was in English Lit., of all things! After school, Andrea bounced around for a bit trying to figure out what she wanted to, then she saw our ad for a groom. She had always wanted to see the Rockies and we are right there so it worked out great for all concerned. She very quickly worked her way into her current position. And since she recently married a local boy, I think she is here for good.
Kayley promoted to head trainer
Kayley is Andrea's assistant trainer. She focuses mostly on the in between stages. Andrea will get a foal started in the different exercises we run them through and then hand them off to Kayley for polishing on those skills. It seemed like an odd way to go about it when they first approached me and discussed it, but it is working out fabulously! And it plays to each one's strengths. The other thing I really like about it is that each foal gets more socialization with different people that way. Kayley comes to us via OSU where she majored in equine sciences and was a big part of the equestrian team.
Cory moved
Cory is Jack and Ruth's middle son and is our in-house farrier, saddle trainer and all around pick up the slack guy. He is also a single dad to a great little 7 year old, Jacob. Jake already knows more about horses than most ranchers. Smart as a whip and he comes by it honestly. Cory was the first in his family to go to college and, although he had to drop out to raise Jacob, he is now doing online courses and intends to get his degree. We are all so proud of him. Cory has an amazingly gentle hand and can saddle train the wildest horse right off the range, so he is in charge of all saddle training here at the ranch.
Lucas promoted to Foreman
Lucas is our only other full time employee here on the home farm. He actually lives here in a studio apartment above the foaling barn. He is a combination exercise attendant/groom and does an excellent job. He has a sketchy past and I am not entirely sure where he is from, although when he gets excited a Deep South accent slips out. Jack showed up from a trip to town with this scruffy, dirty young man with a huge backpack and talked me into taking a chance. He didn't have much horse experience, but 2 years later, he is still here and does an amazing job. And the mares almost refuse to foal if he isn't in the stall. I think he spends a lot of time with them when they are stalled close to delivery time. I suspect he tells them everything he has never told us. So, that's the permanent staff on the home farm. We also have the odd high school student that works for the experience and minimum wage or riding privileges and boarding for their own horse. Right now we have Stephanie. She mucks out stalls and does odd jobs after school and on the weekends. She also occasionally brings her classmate, Renee. She is working for free riding lessons. I will work on the staff at PRS when chores are done. Hopefully.
more to come...
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