September kick-off!

September 7, 2019, Volume 14, Issue 34

Hey there,

We had a great September kick-off this week! We practiced horsemanship, we moved cattle, and as a grand finale we had live music on Friday night! To join us in the fun McGinnis Meadows had the pleasure of welcoming back many old and dear friends. Pat and Phil from the UK were here and delightful as ever. Pat rode out to Graze everyday to adventure and look for cattle while Phil travelled around with Kevin.

We also had Sharon and David as well as France and Gill who all trailered out with us to Graze to explore the vast country and check on as many steers as possible. It was wonderful to have them back and get to know them better. We also had a dedicated horsemanship crowd this week: Anne-Catherine, Joy and Susanne all were able to ride with Shayne in his newly built indoor arena. When the weather was too hot or rainy they had the luxury of a controlled environment to best focus on their riding. In the arena Shayne continued to teach them about their timing and balance as everyone working on their posture in short serpentines and their straightness as they later moved their horses out around the arena.

New intern alert! Welcome to McGinnis Meadows, Maddie! She’s already learning so much in horsemanship and will be with us for three months. Sadly, we do have to say goodbye to Flora this week; she’s been with us for the month of August as Des’ apprentice and has proved to be a great help around the ranch.

As part of our great week we had a wonderful picnic on top of Davis Mountain! In the morning all of the riders and wranglers saddled up and trailered out and started riding up- up to the top of the mountain where you can look out over the east side of the valley towards Thompson Lakes and out over the west side towards the Cabinets. When everyone met at the top, Kevin and Phil were there with a great picnic spread complete with cheese, fruits, and wine. Following lunch we all took a group photo to commemorate the day. It was delightful.

To wrap up the week we got to welcome back to the ranch Dave Blackburn’s band who never fail to give us an enchanting evening with their lively music. Everyone went to the tent after dinner to participate in the festivities and mirth that arise whenever a fiddle and banjo start playing together. As the music was starting we pulled out the dinosaur suits for a round of dancing and races. Yes. We know it may be silly 🙂 But its so much fun to see our wranglers and interns inside these giant inflatable suits! Everyone inside the suits had a great time too- what started as a race among the dinosaurs quickly turned into a game of chasing Des around the meadow! And, soon enough, the ropes were pulled out and everyone not dressed as a dinosaur was trying to rope the dinosaurs. No such thing as a boring day around McGinnis Meadows!

Thanks to everyone that was here for helping to make it a memorable week! Hopefully we’ll be able to see them again soon.

Happy trails,

Anna