There has been a long running joke at Vista Verde over the years of making up names about the ranch that sound like soap opera titles. As the Aspens Turn, As the Snowflakes Fall, All My Horses, Rides of our Lives, you get the idea. It’s not that life at the ranch is really that dramatic, but on the days when we’re all going a dozen different directions trying to keep all the different plates spinning, it is a good way to chuckle. So, with the funky winter we’ve had this year–late to start, then snow, then no snow and warm weather, oh yeah finally snow again, oh gosh now it’s blowing away, phew another storm–you get the idea–this title felt somewhat appropriate.
So, what has been going on at the ranch? Behind the scenes of taking out guests on skis and snowshoes, tubing, dancing, dining and hot tubbing there is a lot of hitching up the sleigh for feeding time, baking breads and simmering stocks while at the same time preparing meals for 10 different dietary restrictions, cleaning stalls, early morning grooming and snow blowing, ironing sheets and polishing mirrors, answering back to back phone calls about reservations for vacations this winter, next summer, the fall, and even next winter, and lots and lots of Skype interviews with potential staff. The ranch reminds me of a beehive sometimes. Nice, quiet, and peaceful from the outside, but a buzzing factory once you dive into it.
Deep in that buzzing beehive there are some exciting things happening! Ben and KP returned from a horse sale late Saturday night with 5 new geldings who all seem pretty amazing. After giving them a day to settle into their new home in private stalls in the Indoor Arena, Monday was a play day with a number of staff hopping on them to see how they go. So far, we’re really happy with what we see. You never know what you’re going to get when you buy a horse, and often times you find out things about them once they are back at the ranch that didn’t show up at the sale.
So, as the beehive keeps buzzing and the snowflakes hopefully keep falling, we’ll continue to try keeping all those plates spinning.