Luxury Dude Ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
It’s that time of year again. It’s the time of year when Dace pulls out the big map, and we start sticking pins in it. Twice a year (once in summer, once in winter), during orientation, the first morning is spent getting to know the crew who will be working for the ranch that season.…
Charlie, Kyle, Carson and Jason have been busy working on our new cattle pen. The pen is about 3 times the size of our old one, and designed so we can more easily move cattle in and out. What I found to be the coolest thing about this pen is that the wood harvested and…
Nicky guest blogs for us this week. She has spent the spring keeping an eye on the broodmares and helping with the new foals. Her fun stories will give you more insights into foaling season at Vista Verde. We have talked about having some pregnant broodmares this year with our own studs Whiskey and Gunny.…
I returned from a great vacation yesterday, and it was so great to be back at the ranch. It’s amazing how the place can change so fast. When I left, there were still little bits of snow on the hillside behind the cabins, some here and there in the pastures, and plenty of mud. Upon…
The real West is still alive and kicking at Vista Verde! But, it’s alive in a much more civilized fashion these days. Terry and Reid just returned from a trip to the Front Range to check out some new horses for the ranch herd. The guys had been put in touch with the man who…
It’s that time of year. The mud is oozing around as the snow melts, and the ranch has a quiet hush as there are no guests and very few staff. As much as we are all people orientated folks who work here, it is nice to have some down time to get projects done, regroup…
Wow, it seems like just a couple weeks ago that I was blogging about our winter dude ranch season kicking into gear with orientation for the staff. The winter did fly by. Yesterday our Horsemanship retreat guests checked out and we completed to final steps to closing down the ranch for the season. Any of…
Knees bent, arms out, holding tightly to the metal bar in front of me, I could feel the slippery wind at my ears and feel the bumps in the road making my arm muscles tense and release over and over again. Who knew that today I’d be riding on the back of a dog-type sled…
On a regular basis, we have experiences at the ranch that are unbelievable. Here’s an example. None of us went into the guest ranch business to make money. We’re all here because we love taking care of people, playing in the outdoors and living this life. Having said all that, we are still running a…
As I woke up to another 4 inches of snow this morning, and looked at the snow-filled forecast for the next couple days, the old saying “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” came to mind. Of course, in typically Steph style, I had to google that saying to find…