December at the Ranch

It is December at the Hunewill Ranch and we have had a few storms and are hoping for more to help end the drought. But it is definitely exciting to see some of the white stuff sticking in the mountains.  This last week we got the last of the animals moved to Smith Valley for the winter. The bulls left on Tuesday and the horses were hauled out in a total of 18 stock trailer loads.

This is Blair and his dog Ham leading horses out to load them in the trailers. 

Horses waiting to be loaded. 

Leslie holding the gate.

Trailers at the ready.

Heading up the ranch road to pick up more horses.

 On Wednesday as I drove up and down the road I thought about the horses in the back of my trailer and the people who had enjoyed riding them during the summer. As I loaded, Josh, the Morgan, I thought about the German gentleman, that had raved about working cattle aboard his sturdy back, as Chief jumped aboard I thought about the blond six-year-old with the movie star mom who wrote him a letter on the way home thanking him for being such a great horse, and Lorna Dun made me think of Austin, the enthusiastic teenager, chasing after Tyler on the advanced ride. These great horses of ours make me proud, week after week as they help our wonderful guests make ranch memories. 

Here is a picture of the horses in Smith Valley. They will spend the winter here at 4500 feet.

We were really glad we moved everything out of Bridgeport when we did. The day after we were done we had 100 mile an hour winds at the ranch. The winds blew the top off a tree, moved a shed and broke windows.  Winter is here.

Here is a picture that Blair took today of the top of a pine tree that was blown out of one of our ranch trees. He went to Bridgeport to check on storm damage. We are lucky the tree didn't land on anything.