Ode to Travis Zielinski, Fellow Photographer!

During the 2012 Guest Season, a photography student who was completing his final exams for school and he called the ranch and asked if he could do a "work/photo study" of Colorado Cattle Company for a week. His final assignment for his graduation was to complete a photo essay documenting a business of his choosing. Smart kid- he chose a working cattle ranch. After a week on the ranch, complete with his camera and a "mad" set of photographic skills, this is the beautiful work that he completed for his final project. We just wanna say Travis- hope you got an A+++, because these photos are absolutely stunning! Hope you all enjoy them as much as we do! 

AMAZING PHOTOS!!!!! 

Absolutely awesome Travis! 

We wish you luck in whatever endeavor you are pursuing! Come back and visit anytime!! 

Working Cattle Ranch.... you betcha'!

This is the opening scene at the ranch each morning as one of the wranglers gathers the horses from the pasture to bring them down into the catch corrals for the day. This tiny spec on the horizon happens to be Isaac Lanning, one of the wranglers of the ranch. Guests have particularly enjoyed seeing the horses rushing into the corrals each morning, they are so full of spunk and personality... and they're hungry!!! 

They are eating breakfast at the same time the guests are eating, so right after breakfast, everyone is ready to go for the day!

"The Parade of Ponies"

(as we like to call it here on the ranch!) 

One of our guests assists Isaac in treating a little calf that was "under the weather." We get a lot of calves that travel to the ranch and get stressed from the trip and end up feeling a little "crummy," so we pay special attention to these babies and get them fixed up right away so they can go on nursing and playing in the pasture with their buddies! 

Sorting cattle to get them into the correct pastures... the guests are a great help in this department, and they are such quick learners. It's such a nice environment when you are able to work cattle on a safe horse in a confined area, there's no better way to learn how to control your horse and how to push a cow!  

Thomas Zrocke, Head Wrangler, looking over the herd and the guests... Dillon, his little Buckskin Horse is quite the cattle horse! And we all think he's awfully photogenic around here... (the horse that is!)  

One of our guests learning to rope off horseback. She came from Holland with absolutely NO roping skills and was roping by the end of the week.... way to go Judith!  

Always time for a laugh around here. This is a little "water tank gossip" going around! Silly horses! 

You get that cow girl!!! All the baby calves that arrive on the ranch are branded on site and treated with their annual vaccines to keep them nice and healthy! One of the guests favorite days of the week! 

"I'm gonna catch me a calf..." 

YEEHAW!!! From the Guests of Colorado Cattle Company!!! 

Hope to see you here soon! 

Last Chance!

GUEST SEASON, here we come!!!! 

It's our last chance to get everything ready for the guest season, as guests are arriving in 7 days! We are starting to sweat around here, even though there is still some snow on the ground! Over the last 4 weeks, we've received LOTS of snow, have spent time plowing out- literally-, and even did a little sledding in the off time. Yesterday, we had 80 degrees and sunny, and today it's snowing again, almost like Christmas- big, fluffy flakes, but not too cold anyways! But-don't forget your jackets and gloves! If it gets too cold, we can always ride in the indoor arena, where we've been working on developing some exciting new activities to perfect your riding skills and have some friendly competition! Team penning, cattle sorting, horseback "motor skill" games, and don't forget "Cowboy School!" Even the Wranglers are going to take part in Cowboy School, we've gotta get brushed up on our skills too, we wouldn't want you guys to show us up! We've also been perfecting the morning "feeding routine." After recently switching over to feed bags, the horses have been extra responsive and are happy to see us coming with bags swinging off of our arms. The feed bags are so much more effective than feeding out of tubs or buckets. They keep the horses safe from getting tangled up, they can't fight or try to get into each other's buckets, no feed is spilled on the ground and it keeps the horses calm even after being fed- they just stand there and wait until we come by to take the bags off their heads! It's sort of a funny sight! We recently vaccinated all of our "play" cattle here on the ranch, getting our cattle doctoring skills up to date. Everyone participated in this fun day of vaccinating and doctoring the cattle, even Jake (our ranch manager) and Tom and Darcy! Only thing missing were the guests! We can't wait to see you all. The horses are tacked up, shoed up and ready to go! See you soon!!! Your Wranglers, Molly, Thomas and Isaac!

Thomas is holding a medicine dispensing "mechanism" for treating Lice in cattle. You pour the medicine over their backs once you get them in the chute.  

Billy (cow on left) and Jake (on right)- Billy is getting his annual vaccinations and having a routine check with the vet to make sure he's "all good!"  

From Left to Right, Jake, Tom, Darcy, Paul (in back), Amber (in front) and Thomas. Molly is missing (taking photograph!)

Sledding adventure....  

 Conclusion after sledding adventure: It's cold, icy and the hill is very big! Our sled was very fast! At the bottom of the hill, there was a 8' snow drift up against the lean to building, making it very easy to go head-first into the side of the building! Yikes! Watch out and bail off!!! 

"Plowing out!" 

(we really wanted Chinese Food in town!)

Need I explain our misery for 4 days with this photograph? 

Coke, enjoying her breakfast out of the new feed bags! Aren't they great?! 

Spring WAS here, but it's gone away already!!!!

With just 4 weeks left until the beginning of guest season, we are all left wondering around here if the guests are going to have to "shovel" their way out of their cabins come May 5.... 

Here are a few VERY recent scenes from around the ranch, 

after our latest "SPRING STORM!" 

The cows are making a pilgrimage to the hay pile and water tank... notice the drifts against the fence... probably about 5' tall....  

This one pretty much sums it up for me right now... "Welcome to the Ranch!"

For those of you who have been here before, you might recognize this spot?
It's the sliding door into our tack room and the hitching post where we saddle up!
Sleigh rides anyone?

What you might not know is that the staff on the ranch live here in the barn. There are 3 possible doors into the staff quarters areas, and ALL of them were snowed in like this... we literally had to dig our way out that morning. This is the HUGE door to the indoor arena, probably a 4' drift here.

We gave this guy a "day off" to defrost. He just wasn't performing up to par after the storm...

We moved the vehicles under the lean-to for shelter from the hail, little did we know, we would need shelter from the blizzard. Anyone want to come and help shovel them out? (And, yes, by the way, since ALL the vehicles are snowed in, it means we haven't left the ranch- we have a little bit of cabin fever going on here!!!!)

And lastly, just for your enjoyment, we don't want anyone to think that a little snow would dampen our spirits around here... we still have out all the SUMMER furniture sitting on all the porches, ready for you to come and visit and relax.... but a word to the wise- bring a cup of hot chocolate and some mittens!

Ta-ta for now! Off to shovel some snow!

Hollywood here we come!

It was just another normal day here on the ranch, the evening was falling, the light was beautiful and I suddenly realized when walking amongst the herd that we have a Hollywood star in our midst. His name is Roper (sure it might need a little adjusting when he becomes famous, but we will always know him as Roper)- he is a donkey... also, that might need something a little more "glamorous" to be considered as one of the prominent stars in Hollywood... but those are details we can work out later. For now, we will start with the head shots to get the ball rolling. 

 

Take #1: 

Me: "Ok Roper, now SMILE!" 

Roper: "CHEESE!" 

Me: (Silently- "Oh boy, this is gonna take a little work, let's try another...) 

Take #2:

Me: "C'mon Roper, WORK WITH ME HERE! Love the camera, love the camera!"

Roper: "This is my George Clooney face, how is it?" 

Me: (Silently- "Ok, now I am really starting get worried he might never make it to Hollywood)

Take #3: 

Me: "Give me your best look Roper, something that says, Hollywood here I come!" 

Roper: "Uh huh, uh huh, that's the way I like it!!!" 

Me: (Silently- "It's hopeless, one more shot and then I think I'll have better luck with the chickens!) 

Take #4: 

Me: "Ok Roper, now imagine that you are looking into the most beautiful sunset and you are standing on a beautiful beach... errr, I mean desert, and you just saw the most beautiful looking little Jill donkey coming across the horizon... show me what that looks like... and NOW!" 

Roper: "Hey, is that a rabbit over there by the hay pile?"

Me: (Silently- "Oh well, at least we got the shot, let Hollywood deal with him now!!!) 

Ranch "Get Together"

Recently, we had a bit of a "Shin-Dig" at the ranch to get together with some of our close friends and neighbors... we had a nice turn-out and everyone enjoyed the festivities! It's always so nice to see a fresh face after a long winter, it sort of lets you know that Spring is on the way! 

Thanks to everyone who came! 

Shot Glasses available for sale in our Ranch Gift Shop! 

Excellent travel souvenirs, they fit so well into your suitcase! 

Home Cut Potato Chips, just one of the many "samples" of the feast we had for the Party! 

Veggies in coffee cans, who woulda' thought? YUM! 

Molly (Wrangler/Ranch Photographer) and Darcy (Ranch Owner) 

Tom and Darcy Carr (Ranch Owners) 

Thomas (Wrangler) and Jacob (Chef and Ranch Maintenance) 

Molly and Thomas (Wranglers) 

Some of our favorite neighbors, Sandy and Monty and Virginia! 

Friends of the Family, David and Michelle 

Tom enjoys light banter with our neighbor, Virginia! 

Tom and the "Girls" 

Darcy, Michelle and Jennifer 

Deep in Convo... probably about horses... imagine that! 

Brad (Wrangler) 

Brad's Grandparents 

Jennifer (Secretary) and Greg with their Granddaughter