Horses: The Bath Brothers

During my time in the horse industry, I have dealt with many horses, ranging from massive drafts to tiny minis and everything in between. I have been on almost every breed and genetic variation this world offers, and I must say, an excellent all-around quarter horse is my favorite! Recently, I have been playing a lot with the Blue Valentine, and Driftwood crosses from Bath Brothers Ranch in Laramie, WY. Though there are many reasons for this abundance of horses, the main ones are location, great horses, deep history, and, most importantly, the family behind the ranch.

The ranch is about 2 hours from our place, so the horses are easily accessible. Now more than ever, location is critical due to shipping and fuel costs. It’s not economical for us to have these horses brought in out of state, let alone from any coastline.

The history of the ranch is vast! The Dunn family moved into WY in the 1870s and has been raising horses and cattle since then. Twenty-five years ago, they started the “come-to-the-source” auction. They have been raising Blue Valentine horses for generations, and the running M brand is the oldest in Wyoming. They run their cattle and horses over 60,000 acres. Those are just the brief highlights of this family and ranch’s history to prove their dedication to the craft and way of living.

If you happen to meet people like the Dunn’s, you know how genuine and caring they are from the first time you meet them. They have that salt-of-the-earth way about them, and you know they would drop everything to help a person in need. Based on their livelihood, you know they are hardworking people doing it because they love it. Their family has a proven track record of quality and care.

The best thing about their horses is that they speak for themselves! Their horses cover the whole spectrum of what almost anyone would hope for in a horse. They have the capacity, durability, heart, smarts, and, most importantly, gentleness necessary to make an all-around horse in any world. They succeed in every arena, from leisure riding for an inexperienced person to performance in any discipline. They can be used for hard cowboy work day after day and come back fresh as a daisy the next day. They desire to be with the human and love to work. They hold up in any country and through any work you throw at them.

My favorite part is that I can take them to high levels of performance and then put anyone on them with 100% confidence. They always surprise me with their caring nature and heart to perform. That, to me, seems like a pretty rare thing. Not many horses I have come across can do it all as these horses can. Usually, as a two-year-old, you can have them saddled and ridden for the first time in about 30 minutes. They progress quickly in their flat work and ranch work. Once you teach them something, they don’t forget! This makes it easy to move from the snaffle to hackamore, to two rein, and finally, the bridle quite quickly. Once your basics are good, you can look great in a dressage arena or out of the range, chasing down a sick cow to doctor it, being able to put any novice rider on them, and watching the horse care for their rider.

I could go on and on, giving story after story speaking to these horses’ capacities. If you have ever dealt with these horses, you know. They show you what they are made of in all the best ways. They are gentle, sweet-natured horses that can perform in any arena. Those are special horses, which is just about all that the Bath Brothers Ranch breeds!

Since the fire!

Today is January 6th, 2023, and I am still processing the aftermath of the East Troublesome Fire that catastrophically affected this area, and more specifically, our ranch. The fire took our fence lines, our garage, and, most devastatingly, our house. In addition to all those factors, it took away our plans; we had plans to build an 80 x 100-foot indoor arena, and had to reallocate all that money to rebuild a house. There is also all the personal labor we put into the ranch that the fire wiped out in minutes. The aftermath of the fire has been demoralizing in so many incalculable ways. 

 

I find it hard not to imagine where we could be if the fire had never happened. We could have done much more with the ranch to be better set it up for horses. More importantly, our relationships wouldn’t have been strained to such an extreme. The whole event has stunted progress beyond belief in ways that can never be made up. 

 

The fire was a known threat for years, so to say it was unexpected, isn’t true. We tried to mitigate as much as possible, but not near enough without spending another fortune to set up sprinklers for the house. The unexpected unknowns all showed their ugly faces post-fire. We all hope no one has to go through these things. If the insurance company was reliable and took care of us as they said they would, the relief would be encouraging.Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case. Financially we have been set back at least 15 years, but truthfully, for the rest of our lives. Instead of reinvesting, it’s just cash towards something that should have been paid off. 

 

The X-factor in all of this is the timeline. If it was just the fire, that’s no big deal. The fire in a small valley (with limited resources to begin with), then covid, and  the state of the world economy, all simultaneously made things completely unreasonable. Grand County and the whole world have felt the strain, which will continue for many more years. 

 

While we are fine and everything is okay, life sucks compared to what it could have been. There is no going back and nothing we could change pre-fire to be better set up for this moment. We were already trying our best to piece together our ranch for a sustainable future. 

 

Please don’t take this as a sob story; it’s merely a personal account of this moment. There is no point in whining about it as it will never change anything, nor can anyone else fix it for us; all we can continue to do is chip away today. Take it day by day, grind forward, hoping things progress towards a better future. Everyone remains healthy, and things will get better in the future. Once the house is finished and settled, a huge step forward will be made for our entire family. 

 

Our whole family continues to heal and grow in ways we could never have imagined pre-fire. The fire and world conditions will make us more resilient as long as we continue to survive. The fire didn’t kill us but continues to test us, and I hope it strengthens all of us as we figure out how to settle into our new home when it’s finished. 

 

If I am being sincere, the past couple of years has felt like an insanity loop, stuck in limbo between future and past, biding time till a new home can be settled. I have grown throughout it all, but congruently never felt more stuck. There have only been simple things I can control, and so many things I cannot. The real kicker is that we will have to move again; therefore, I cannot truly settle until the new house is finished. My life has felt on standby ever since the fire occurred.

The Winter Pine

As I look out the window on this wondrously beautiful winter day, I find my intrigue captured by the pine tree. We have recently encountered quite a hefty snowfall blanketing the entire landscape. It amounted to about six to eight inches of the fluffiest snow that appeared to maintain all of its air from yesterday. While it looks like a large amount of snow, it is fairly minor after settling on a warmer day. It is as if the dreamiest cloud formed into the perfect blanket to lay evenly across all the land. The fresh flakes accumulate to smooth over the entire surface of the environment, creating the equivalent of a quiet, still day on a perfectly glassed lake. There are no rough surfaces or rigid points to be seen; objects protruding above the layers of purity are the only contrast left to the terrain. Of all those shadowy figures standing tall against the calm sea of snow glistening all around, there sprouts the pine tree.

The dark green branches are weighted down by the fresh billows of snow, resiliently holding on to the moisture as long as nature demands it. The brown of the tree trunk remained flexible but firm through the frigid temps and gusty winds, allowing the tree to add another year to its rings of life. Season after season, it proved its worthiness to survive through an entire year, and more importantly, the harsh long winters. The pine sways when the weather requires it, remains still when allowed, and bears the weight of each season.

There is no better sight than that of the pine after a pristine covering of snow in the middle of winter. Fresh snow piled up on the branches four to six inches high, the tree trunk poking through the soil of snow, and the light catching it in all of its glory. The awe I experience from one of these trees is only multiplied by a healthy forest of evenly spaced pines covering a plot of land. The desire to ride horses endlessly through these heavenly areas is a dream we can all imagine. The infinite detail is surrounded by overwhelming beauty on a quiet, still day, with the sun blinding your eyes while outlining anything that isn’t fresh snow. It creates shadows that grow and wane as the day progresses—perfect outlines of puffy pines that are effortlessly traced on the white canvas all around. The sensation of jumping off a horse into the bottomless snowfall has overcome me many times. How can one resist?

Seeing the little swell beneath the pines invites the inner child to dig it out to create a fort. Simultaneously, the adult wants to lay in the snow to take a nap in the quietest environment one could ever imagine, or dream of the joy to be had in these perfect snow days on horseback. The timing is short; too late into the winter, a horse cannot track through the meadows, and any sooner, it would lose the blanket effect by sage showing through. When you catch it just right, you get the sensation of floating on a horse through a sea of silence on your way through a version of heaven on earth. The radiating sun is blinding, and when it’s combined with the sense of a soundless motion through feet of powder, it leads to the greatest sense of tranquility. It begs the thought that this can’t be the misery of winter we all dread.

Moments like this are to be cherished, and I wish everyone some version of this experience. It can be felt in any realm, and you know it when you encounter it. Standing on top of a high mountain with no lights to interrupt the serene darkness, makes it seem as if you are in the galaxy amongst the stars. Floating in the middle of a lake on a sunny, calm day, allows one to enjoy the sounds and smells of nature. In the city we overlook everything (to where it seems normal), while standing in awe of what we have created and become. It’s in these moments with friends or family where you become nostalgic for it as it unfolds, thinking it would be ok to remain in that moment forever.

In reality, all of these moments, at best, make up 25% of our lives, but I’m guessing, they more realistically make up maybe 5%. That doesn’t mean that is a bad thing. Without the rest, can these moments even take place? We must look to create these moments constantly. More importantly, we must try to see moments like this in everything, no matter how small or inadequate they may seem. In the future, life can all be made better with hindsight, the passing of time, and continued maturity. In the meantime, keep your minds open and aware; understanding will come from the noted experiences along the way. Good luck.

Trust and Belief!

The thing about having the ability to be surrounded by or introduced to others that you can build deeper relationships with through the lens of trust and belief is that it leads to a more meaningful and simplified life. Having the trust of those around you diminishes the need to waste time vetting others to protect yourself. If you know the process of building trust with others, then you can have belief in them to do right by you and vice versa.

Through these meaningful relationships, we all save time, effort, and capacity to reallocate towards bigger and better things for all of us. We stay focused on the positives by knowing those around us understand the process of progress. We will make the inevitable mistakes but correct them by working together.

Imagine your life with this trust and belief in others around you. How much happier would you be? How much more focused would you be? How much better do you think you could be? How great would your life as a whole be?

I know that’s a rendition of a perfect world, but imagine it! How amazing would this be? Trusting your life in the hands of others so that they do the same—everyone outputting effort towards desire, coming together to create a better output. Think about how much time we waste because we don’t have trust and belief in those around us. Not to mention the paranoia we feel if we do not trust and believe in ourselves.

Again I know it’s a fantasy land, but it is something we should all strive towards! How do we ensure we can build these relationships with ourselves and others? We have to have the ability to work on ourselves so we at least have trust and belief there. Knowing we are not perfect and will make mistakes, we allow ourselves the grace to correct these shortcomings.

From there, we can start to curate the experiences with others to build trust and belief in them. Take time to get to know them and set up experiences showing you who they are through their actions. As the time investment becomes more significant, and so does the exchange of actions between you and the other, belief can be given because trust is there.

This kind of trust and belief creates something special that should be deeply cherished because you become irreplaceable to each other. A relationship this important should always be done intentionally, from start to finish, and one must be aware of what they are striving for before setting out to achieve it. If you know, these are the relationships you want to have; you can start acting like someone others can trust and believe in. That means necessary work from the inner perspective, but once there is progress, look for people who reciprocate your actions truthfully. If you can do that, you become a better reader of people to find more like-minded people sooner. The whole process must start with you.

Winter Riding!

The roads are narrowing as it’s the beginning of the new year, and the snow keeps piling up. Since we are a ranch with 44 horses on the property, the riding must go on no matter the environmental scenario. Winter creates a particular need to get creative with how we ride our horses because space continually diminishes while the danger only increases.

Before the East Troublesome Fire burned our property and house, we planned to build a covered arena. This would have been a beautiful addition that allowed relief from the elements throughout all four seasons. The arena would have been 80 x 100, and the riding space would have been 80 x 80; the other 20 feet would be an overhang for a shelter so the animals could avoid rain, snow, and wind. Needless to say, that dream has been put on hold indefinitely.

The big thing the arena would have been essential for is footing or, in other words, safety. When working with young ones, a sound footing is desirable to increase the odds of success for all involved; without the arena, that leaves the plowed roads from November till at least April. While the roads are sound footing at a walk or straight line, that’s about it. No steep arcs or sudden speed changes can be made while riding, and the meadow snow is far too deep to ride through. Safety becomes a huge priority during the winter because there is no consistency due to constant snowfall and relentless wind drifting.

On a more positive note, I do find winter to be an excellent practice of creativity and flexibility. Winter allows the modes of exposure to be unique. The horses going through all four seasons at our ranch have a different disposition. A leveling up in their security, confidence, and endurance because you just can’t simulate winter.

While conditions are favorable through the summer, and you can do anything without the fear of lousy footing, winter is a different ball game. You can not take anything for granted; you have to stack the deck in the horse’s favor and yours. While most “trainers” or “professionals” work through every horse similarly year round, that routine would lead to utter catastrophe in this environment. The need to stay fluid and be smart about what you are doing and why is essential to survive and eventually thrive. It is best to become savvy about the capacities and mentalities of the horses you work with. Otherwise, you or the horse will be hurt.

Here are some optimistic scenarios created by winter! Sure, you never want to bury your horse in a snow drift, but let me tell you, it happens. How does your horse react when they get stuck? Does the horse trust you enough to stay calm, or do they panic? I’m not sure if you have ever been on a panicking horse in 3 plus feet of snow before, but I would take a legit bronc ride over that any day. I would guess on the upside, if you did fall off, it’s bound to be a soft landing.

While horses are out free with the herd running and playing, they gain a certain kind of agility and balance needed to move in winter conditions that other horses just never get. Herd pasturing is a priceless feature of the winter that takes no effort other than a good herd and decent fencelines. The horses civilly take care of the rest, given they have appropriately been worked and strategically integrated into the herd.

The other good thing about winter work, you must be sure about your groundwork before ever risking one ride on a snowpack. I just witnessed the Monday night football game where a player went into cardiac arrest after a play; the outcome is still unknown. There hasn’t been an update on a diagnosis of the result yet, but as every football player knows, it’s, unfortunately, part of the game. This is no different with horses; your life could be on the line anytime. This is part of the acceptance of working with any horse. So any chance we get, stack the deck in your favor. Do not take unnecessary risks to compound the chances of injury or death. I have seen way too many avoidable and random accidents out of anyone’s control not to prepare for the unexpected or inevitable.

So in working with horses in the winter, thorough groundwork is unquestionably a must. Extra time must be given and taken whenever there is anything out of sync between you and the horse. As I type this paragraph, two words come to mind: basics and preparation. Don’t take unnecessary risks because if you get on too soon and the horse isn’t prepared, your life or the horse’s could be forfeited. Is that ever worth it?

When starting young horses in the winter, you no longer have a round pen unless you want to shovel a four-foot drift out daily. Even if you clear it, you still have to ride in it. Riding in a winter round pen is equivalent to riding an arc in a skating rink; it will not play out well. So you have to rely on groundwork and intelligent positioning when you ride. If a horse was to take off, where would it go, and how would you react? You must be very calculated in every facet of what could happen and how you will respond if it does before ever stepping on the horse. You do not ride with it in mind or expect it to happen; you are mentally and physically prepared if it were to happen. If that were to come to fruition, you have to dissect what you missed in the preparation phase that led to the horse’s justified reaction unless it were a physical limitation within a horse.

I can tell you one thing about younger or older horses in the snow. You never have an issue with life or elevation. If a horse struggles to move out or pick up their feet, merely put them in deep snow and watch nature take care of the rest!

So that covers your greener horses, but how do you work a refined horse through the winter? Without arcs, you have to work on many short diagonals. You can still do all the basic dressage movements, but how you do them depends on the day. You can side or half pass the width of the road or diagonally down the road, but you must change directions at some point. The roads are slightly angled for drainage, so turning must be done carefully. Many upward and downward transitions are figured into your riding based on the road you are riding. You can not turn sharp, stop hard, or take off too quickly without slipping, falling, or flipping. Extreme care must be taken upon every transition.

My favorite part of winter is all the shenanigans to be had. Dallying onto a tube or sled to slingshot around the yard with kids is a must! Skijoring never fails to get many laughs and even better wipeouts. The quietness of a ride through the fresh powder while skiffs of snow build up on the limbs so I can time a tree shake perfectly. That way, the rider behind me gets buried by all the snow falling from the tree. Always a fan favorite, haha.

Winter riding shows you how well your horse is coming along, for there is no routine or sets of movements you can rely on. Therefore whatever you have or don’t have is exaggerated to the fullest by the conditions.

Exposure to all the peculiarities that winter offers is priceless. Getting on your horse after the night was -20 degrees Fahrenheit after it snowed during the day, creating frozen or wet-backed horses, is an actual test of who your horse is. Trudging through meadows of snow, the horse must trust you to guide them as they have no idea what is underneath. Crossing sketchy gaps of ice where you have to have complete balance and control with your horse. Working on roads where the snowpack is five to six feet tall on both sides, the shadows constantly change while the snow is falling as it melts or shifts. My favorite is seeing how the horse reacts to cascading snow off the roofs. These experiences are pretty hard to replicate, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, as the horse that comes out on the other side is priceless.

Can you genuinely enjoy the Colorado mountain summers if you haven’t ridden through the winter? As much as I despise riding while not being able to feel my hands, feet, and face, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The horses are better because of it, and to be honest, I am better because of it. Falling into the same old routines can stunt a person.

Winter closes in on me every year, allowing me to fully open up through the summers. My horses are better because of winter and in shape to take on the mountains or any other work. I thoroughly enjoy every summer day because I know soon what’s around the corner. There must be a reason for the seasons, so I try to find the positives. Plus, the winter allows me to focus more on my studies and reflections, which I cherish.

Meaningful Relationships: Time, Effort, Capacity.

To pursue a meaningful relationship, we must find a way to harmonize our life around time, effort, and clarity. We need to create time before we can allocate effort toward clarity. We must define our past, future, and present to obtain clarity. Once we understand all aspects of life, we can strategically apply our efforts toward the desired outcome. Eventually, creating a continuous growth cycle of harmony between time, effort, and capacity.

We need time to think through our past relationships to dissect them truthfully. We need time to think through what we want to strive for in the future, and we need time to simplify that down into actionable steps in the present. If we can do all that, we still have to start searching to find what we are looking for, not to mention the rest of the process.

Spending time on the intentional pursuit and fruition of meaningful relationships has never been a reasonable focus point for people simply because a person didn’t have the luxury of this time. It boils down to that time to pursue meaningful relationships is a luxury.

Now enter the problem of how one is supposed to go about meaningful relationships in modern-day society from the perspective of time. First, we must address the delusion of what people view relationships as these days. Social media and the addiction people have to it also stem from the issue of fantasy and lust. We see all these versions of dream lives and the interpretations we most want for ourselves and our significant other, and we never see those and break down what they are. Instead, we go straight to the version of reality we want. We attach to a delusion, and then we expect the fantasy. Even worse, some people achieve their false dreams, only to find out it’s superficial if they can ever be honest enough to see that. So then we work our whole life pursuing a shallow version of reality for nothing and, in the end, taking advantage of the ignorance or lack of awareness of others to get what we want for ourselves. Nothing matters but the delusion.

That is what we are up against today. To pursue a meaningful relationship, we must define our purpose and meaning in life. That should always be some version of making the most of yourself to be of more value to all others. All of which take more time. Time to spend in deep thought is essential, but it is pure luxury compared to past days. If we have time to allocate towards this kind of thought, it must be taken advantage of. Time spent in deep thought is the only way to head in the direction we want to in life.

We are up against the delusion, and we are also up against the complexity of modern living. It is not easy to get ahead, no matter what circumstances we may begin in or be in. Most live day to day, month to month, in survival mode. Whether due to debt or just working 40-80 plus hours a week to stay afloat, most don’t have enough to rest on their or others’ laurels. If this is the case, there is no time to spend on an intentional future.

As you can see, the most challenging part of creating meaningful relationships is time. Without more time, we cannot pursue these versions of desired futures. Without that time, we are all inevitably susceptible to environmental simplicities. As human nature creatures, we give into blind action and don’t even realize it when we are stuck in this oodleloop. We go through work, our social lives, and our personal lives all in a manner in which we find the path of least resistance. In this case, that is not a good thing. We make things work based on the limited confinement of our circumstances. We fall prey to our nature because we have no capacity to overcome it.

We are forever victims to chaotic life without the luxury of intentionally purposed time to overcome our nature. That doesn’t mean anything other than it will limit our potential and capacity. Even if you have the time to spend on meaningful relationships, that doesn’t mean you will ever find what you are looking for. We all change due to unknown life variables; therefore, no perfect version of any reality or fantasy exists.

The gift of time allows us to understand ourselves and our natural states of operation. If we can begin to progress on that journey, we have a chance to reach some version of our total capacity through relationships with others. Creating time for this process is tough, but we are all the better for it if we do. The first and most crucial step to finding meaningful relationships is to spend time on ourselves. We must go through our past relationships with others and ourselves. We must define our future to break it into a present digestible state. Then we need to take the time to put it all to the test by getting out there with a strategy that best sets us up for success. All there is after that is a wash, rinse, repeat situation.

History of The Bath Brothers Ranch

I want to start with a bit of history straight from the horse’s mouth! The Bath Brothers Ranch’s history is well stated in their brochure from the “Come to the Source” auction put on every fall in Laramie, WY. Randy Dunn (owner) says it best:

“My ancestors, The Baths, came to Laramie in the spring of 1868. The railroad followed in the fall, and the Territory of Wyoming was formed. The Baths built the first wood-framed building in Laramie in 1869 before moving to the Little Laramie Valley to start raising cattle and horses.

The Bath Brothers had a long and strong tradition of raising good using horses and reputation cattle. In the 1930s, they raised Remount horses for the government. They began raising Quarter Horses in the late ’30s and became AQHA members in the early 40s.

My wife, Laurie, and I continue the 150+ year tradition of raising quality horses on the same ranch. We still use the family’s original AQHA number (#7965) as our Lifetime AQHA number and carry on the same principles that have been handed down for seven generations in the Bath family. Our horses are easy keepers with good minds, speed, bone, and tons of cow and athletic ability.

Our ranch is one of the oldest working ranches in Wyoming, and our brand (running M) is one of the oldest recorded in the state. Our horses are raised in big, open pastures alongside of the cattle. Our program includes grandsons and granddaughters of Blue Balentine. We have successfully crossed these with Driftwood to make exceptional multidiscipline performance horses. We are now complementing this classic cross and infusing more speed with SLR Frank James. We use the horses we raise and feel they offer the genetic strength to perform and compete in any discipline or arena. We are ranchers raising good horses!”

A few things left out of their history, they run these horses and cattle over 60,000 acres. The ranch is now 155 years old, and the 6th, 7th, and 8th generations live there. The Come to the Source auction is in its 25th year of operation. They run over 300 head of horses and even more cattle, and the numbers constantly fluctuate based on the year and climate. Their horses have been used in the Frontier Rodeo Company, PRCA, and NFR as pick-up horses. I am sure I’m missing many more pieces to their family and ranch history, but that’s a good start.

With a history like that and a great family who continue to progress the ranch, we feel humbled to say we are partners with them. Everything about them speaks for itself in the best way imaginable. The family, the ranch, the horses, and the brand!

For more information about the ranch, the horses, and the people, check out these sites:

http://www.bathbros.com
http://www.cometothesource.com
Facebook: Bath Brothers

Meaningful Relationships

Relationships inevitably surface during my life coaching conversations with others. Sometimes it’s the topic of choice; other times, the issue of necessity. Regardless, one of the critical pieces to our future is defining what relationships are to us. We can then determine what a meaningful relationship looks like and intentionally seek them out in the present to refine the relationships for the future.

Before defining, I must outline a few stipulations. First, I am referring to the scenario of 2 individuals, and I am not considering groups, concepts, or objects. In particular, I am referring to the case of our best friends, mentors, and significant other. With these parameters set, we can now define.

Meaningful: having a serious, significant, or useful quality or purpose towards benefitting others.

Relationship: a meaningful connection between two individuals.

Meaningful Relationship: an intentional connection between two individuals to forever grow together towards a desirable future unattainable as individuals. Both individuals bring out the best in the other!

The importance of defining anything is to become clear about something’s purpose and meaning in our lives. Once we identify that, we can intentionally pursue our desirable future based on our current circumstances. That may mean we have to go back a bit to learn to accept our past, but most of the time, we can move forward as long as we know what we are working towards and the right positive reasons for doing so.

The reason for all this defining is to set up future conversations about relationships and how people are experiencing them in the modern scene. I see the struggle and suffering experienced by so many lonely people. The bad news is this process takes work, and therein lies a big part of the problem. Time, effort, and clarity are the big three I hope to address around this subject.

The world is only getting more complex for the average person to thrive. A massive piece of simplifying life is defining those we need in our lives to grow from and with. That means our choices must be intentional and must be mutual. We cannot afford to allow our most meaningful relationships to happen by circumstance or environment.

I look forward to continuing this conversation with you, and as always, if you want to dig into the infinite detail and exploration behind these topics, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I love to connect to better understand based on your individual experience. Thank you for taking the time.

Checked Out!

Whenever I go out into the wild, aka the public setting of normalcy some might call the city, I can’t believe how checked out some people are. Utterly unaware of everything around them, some blatantly go out of their way to be rude to others. I get it; people, on average, are struggling to sustain any semblance of sanity within the chaos of survival these days. This life leads to an environment of overstimulation that deprives an individual of time, effort, and capacity to replenish oneself. If individuals do not receive this crucial time, there is no hope of serving others positively.

When I say serve others better, I am referring to explicitly allocating capacity towards others. Therefore an individual must have time and effort to apply towards themself first. This allows the individual to focus on how they wish others treated them while they were in public. With this thought process, an individual creates awareness, and this awareness helps flip personal perspectives so they can see themselves in others. If we act from this angle, we can truly serve others because everyone deserves the opportunity for respect.

To become more thoughtful towards others, we must desire to become more aware. It comes down to choice for each of us to create the time, so we have the effort, combining time and effort turns into capacity. Once there is capacity, all that is left is the exploration through action.

Imagine a world of aware people around you and how pleasing the experiences could be. The little actions of the oblivious or the one blatant act of disrespect are challenging to accept once you become privy to them. Continued barraging of negative experiences like this can make anyone feel trapped or even slightly crazy. How are you not supposed to feel this way if you are somewhat aware of what’s happening around you while others seem to have no care in the world?

The scary thing is understanding what creates these types of unaware individuals taking from others constantly. It is usually slow conditioning from the environment to which they are exposed. For others, it’s a blatant choice to be rude because some version of a false reality tells them they deserve to be that way to others or, even worse because they think it allows them to get ahead in life. Then others are just being cattle, pretending this is just how life is, and go with the oblivious flow towards insanity.

How is it that you prefer to be in public? Do you even know how you act in public and how it affects others? Are you keeping your eyes peeled for moments to help those in need? I challenge you to see if you can move through public places with subtle awareness. Can you move through the setting in a manner that doesn’t draw attention to you? Can you remain aware for the entirety of the experience?

Proof Through Action

Recently we decided to partner our ranch with the Bath Brothers Ranch in Laramie, WY. We picked up some horses at their ranch about a month ago to begin the journey forward. Everything was going great, and we were headed home with two trailer loads when we had an issue with one of the trailers. The trailer accident was the moment I knew we had made the right decision in partnering with them.

We departed for Laramie with two trailers and pretty much the whole family. We made it to their ranch, and the horses were all penned up, ready to be looked through. It was the first time my wife, son, father, and sister had made the trip there, but it was important that they came with me to meet their family. Everyone met and had plenty of time to get to know each other. The technical side could have all been done in an hour, but we were there half the day shooting the breeze! We talked a bit about the future, kids played together, and many laughs were had between two wholesome families.

We sorted the horses off and loaded them into the trailers to begin the long trek home. Everything seemed easy and natural; some even might say a perfect day. Everyone felt excellent about the whole situation. Let’s be honest, though; who wouldn’t while looking at horses, getting to know great people, and branding horses? So we hit the road back to our ranch.

We made a brief stop in town before heading down the road. All the horses were settled and behaving perfectly in the trailers. We put six weanlings in one and five yearlings and two-year-olds in the other. We were heading down the road when I felt a little more drag, but I didn’t think anything of it as it was minor. I then received a call from the parents behind us asking if we had lost a tire?! From the looks and feels of the truck, I said not that I know of, but figured I better check just in case.

Sure enough, we pulled over, and the back right tire had sheered off because the bearings locked up. The parents said they thought it was a deer or something, only to realize it was a tired bouncing off into oblivion. Now the predicament of what to do. It was Friday around 4 pm, so we didn’t have much time.

After deciphering the problem, I called the Bath Brothers Ranch in hopes they would have a solution to the problem. I hated doing this but felt I had no good options beyond that. We had all had a pretty long day and wanted to get home, as I imagine they just wanted to wrap up chores for the evening. Nonetheless, I called them, and they answered. We chatted a bit to figure out the best-modified outcome. Were we going to drop the horses back off and head home? Were we going to try to limp home on the one good torsion axle? All ideas were being thought through.

While they were en route, we searched for the tire but had no luck. We had a spare, so not that big of a deal; another problem for another time. The Dunn Family(Bath Brothers Ranch family name) decided to bring us one of their stock trailers and let us take that home. Before doing that, we had to back the trailers up butt to butt to transfer the five horses. Mind you, these horses have never been haltered or worked by another human. While most would say that’s an easy job moving horses, it was a bit more complicated in this case. God bless the tremendous-natured horses they breed there. We could get in the trailer with them to guide them to the other trailer. Again, this may seem like nothing, but it was a huge deal.

Next was to drive the trailer down the road to a trailer shop for simplicity’s sake. We unhooked one trailer and hooked on to the payload before heading home. The debacle took around an hour and a half from pulling over to hooking up to the new trailer. That was a miracle in and of itself, but we should look at a few nightmarish possibilities that could have taken place.

This was the last trip with that trailer before putting it away for the winter and repacking the bearings next spring. If it just could have made it one final journey, we would have been fine, but that wasn’t the case. Given that this was the case, there are a million different catastrophes that could have taken place.

First, the drive was up a tight, curvy two-lane road that was a bit sketchy to drive to their ranch. If anything had happened on that road, there would have been no good outcome. The road had no shoulder, was ice-packed, temps were -20 below, and there was no cell service on most of the road. So imagine that with empty trailers, not good, but now imagine that with wild horses. That gets to be an all-out utter disaster.

Secondly, there was a trailer service shop down the road five miles from where we pulled over—we lucked out big time there. Otherwise, it was going to be a lock up and leave it there till the next day to drive half a day to fix up the spindle on the roadside, hoping to have it finished by night. The service place was referred to us by the Dunn family, so not sure if we would have gotten in if it wasn’t for that connection.

Finally, with horses and family involved, anything could have happened that led to some fatal catastrophe. Accidents of this nature terrify me the most, making every other version of this seem null and void to any misfortune. I am so grateful all that happened was a tire was lost.

The most crucial factor in this whole equation was the Dunn family. I called, and they answered, and all the problems were fixed within seconds. Without the lifeline to reach out to them, I hate to imagine what we would have done. Nothing efficient, and who knows how effective? I know that was the last thing they wanted to do on a ranch at any day’s end.

All of this is why I am happy to say we partnered with the Dunn Family and their ranch. Actions like this are all I need to confirm what I felt, but it’s not till these actions occur that you know. So as all this was a mild misfortune, it told me all I needed to know about the people we were partnering with. They had every right to ignore the call or to pass it off as something they didn’t know how to help with. They didn’t; instead, they stepped up in the way you hope all others would.

These moments of unforeseen action are priceless! You can’t set them up; you can only watch how people act. There is no more terrible feeling than being helpless and having no one to be able to call. I now know I can trust and believe them with all my being, and I will do my best to do the same for them in return! In the end, I am thankful for the relationship with the Dunn Family and excited to see where the future takes us.

The Florida Horse

There are specific experiences in life that I long for more than anything. My most recent one was with a new lifelong friend Burak and a horse we called Bon Bon, aka the Florida horse. While this story took place last year, the relationship started around ten years ago in Florida. That is where we will begin.

As I was beginning to hit my stride as an individual in the horse starting, fixing, and refining business, a good friend suggested I start to go to Florida to teach and work for the public. As a resident of Granby, Colorado, at the time, I was eager to find a cozy wintering ground where I could comfortably ride horses. This friend’s name was Tracy, who I also must mention was a significant reason for my early successes outside the state of CO. Long story short, Tracy helped set up a test clinic for me in Wellington, FL. I went down there to test the waters, and at this clinic, one of the participants was Burak and a beautiful big bay horse named Oliver.

I believe I had a few individual lessons with Burak and his horse, but after that had not been in contact with him for many years. I never forgot Burak and his horse because of his eagerness for horsemanship and his joy about life in general. He was a very likable fellow for all to be around.

About a year ago, I got a Facebook message from Burak, and he was hoping to discuss horses. We set up a time and date; nonetheless, it happened when I was auditing a Buck clinic. Burak and I chatted over the phone about his ideal future with horses. In short, he was looking for a family horse that could do work in the arena and head out on the trails. Burak and I had landed on finding a yearling that would hopefully work for his future vision.

As fate would have it, we were just about to head up to the Bath Brothers Ranch in Laramie, WY, for our annual look at their herd. My family and I headed to Laramie to see their herd of about 300-400 horses. We looked through the whole herd and picked out the 12 horses we wanted for our private ranch, but nothing struck me as a fit for Burak. It wasn’t till the very end, as we were driving through a bunch of youngsters, that I saw the horse. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I knew once I saw the horse that it was the one.

She was a rough gangly-looking yearling, as most yearlings raised on the range are. It was her eyes and demeanor that caught me. Her eyes were big and beautiful, set on her head with the calmest look you will ever see for a wild horse. While remaining at total rest, you could see the gentle expression given through her upper eyelids of absolute serenity. She also carried herself with confidence but in a super subtle manner. As I saw it at that moment, I am confident enough to stand my ground against unruly-natured horses, but I am also secure enough to nurture those who may need help.

I will skip to another side of the story to save you all the novel I could write infinitely describing how much I love that horse. Bon Bon made it to her forever home in FL and is living happily ever after with Burak and his family. Burak facetimed me the other weekend; he was literally riding her into the perfect sunset along the water. This whole story is really about Burak!

While I love Bon Bon, the horse, I want to speak about Burak. Who calls someone out of the blue to entrust you with their life like this? Sure we knew each other and were friendly, but we were not lifelong friends. I couldn’t believe he chose this specific journey with me! He trusted me 100% to find him the perfect horse! He trusted me to halter that horse for the first time, to saddle the horse for the first time, and to ride the horse for the first time. He entrusted me with all his confidence to do right by him.

Let me say that again; he entrusted me to do right by him! I mean, who does this anymore? I long for trust in all my relationships, especially the horse/human-related ones. I want to know if these horses are going to a place of love, care, and meaningful work. More importantly, I want to trust them as much as they trust me, with 100% confidence in the relationship, knowing that even if things don’t work out regarding a specific scenario, it will be made right no matter what. No grudges, no blame, just the honesty between two humans to be truthful to their word! Truthful in the moment and honest to the future. Everything will be made right in time with these kinds of people.

Burak is a truthful, trustworthy, and honest person. These things cannot be taken for granted through words, and these relationships are proven only through time and experience with that person. These people are the type I am searching for because this is what my life is all about—surrounding myself with these great people.

Burak took the time to fly out to CO from FL so that he could spend time with Bon Bon in the fall before she made the trip to FL in the late fall. Watching him take to her and her to him is a priceless moment that cannot be captured by anything other than that moment itself. It was love at first sight. Watching him ride her with all the confidence in the world and her remaining in a state of pure bliss brought me to tears many times as I watched them bond as the week went on.

I watched them work on their flat work in total harmony. I watched them canter out into a freshly cut meadow without a worry in the world. I watched them rest on top of a mountain, looking at the land while breathing slowly and deeply.

I am happy to call Burak a lifelong friend! I am thankful for the experience he allowed me by trusting me to do right by his wishes. I appreciate the opportunity to care for, start, and refine a magnificent horse for him and his great family. I will never forget Bon Bon, but more importantly, I can’t wait to mature more with friends like Burak!

Thank you, Burak. I can only hope to call more people friends as I do you.

Thank you, Bon Bon for giving your all and caring for Burak and his family

How we met the Dunn Family and Their Historic Bath Brothers Ranch.

We first became initiated to the Bath Brothers Ranch through one of our family friends, named Ray. Years ago, Ray had me start horses for him that were similarly bred to the Bath Brothers or came from the “Come to the Source” auction. They were nice-looking horses that were easy to work with, and had a lot of heart. I took note of their breeding for future use.

At the time, I was traveling coast-to-coast, doing educational clinics, colt starting for private farms, dealing with lots of troubled horses, and seldom getting to refine any. As a result, owning more than one personal horse was out of the question. I discovered that traveling was not the life I wanted. I had paid off all my debt, and decided to head back to CO. Colorado was always the dream, and it all happened about 50 years sooner than I imagined.

I settled into CO, and the horse business was working out pretty well. The only problem was my horses all sold too fast. Well, this is where Ray comes back into the story. Ray always spoke highly of the well-bred horses at the auction called “Come to the Source,” As timing would have it, the auction was that month. I couldn’t attend the auction, but my mother and wife both went. For anyone who knows my mother, well, she might have a bit of a horse-buying problem–as my wife soon discovered (she was relatively new to the whole family life here in CO).

The day of the auction arrived, and it was a beautifully quiet day for me. I was just working horses back home. My mother went up with the idea of purchasing one riding horse. At least, that’s what she led us to believe. As the auction began, the quietness and peace in my day faded quickly. My wife began to inform me that my mother was bidding on one horse, a weanling nonetheless. I honestly thought she was messing with me.

Then the wife told me she was the high bid on the weanling. A few minutes later, she sent another text that my mother was bidding on another weanling. Yet again, my mother was the high bidder. At this point, my father and I were very concerned about housing two weanlings. We naively thought that was the end of her bidding. By the time the auction was over, we had one yearling and four weanlings. This was no joke! Lesson learned, never trust my mother at an auction ever again!

I am certain everyone at the auction thought she was crazy for buying that many young horses, because pops and I sure did at home. Two of those five horses purchased at auction were Bath Brothers’ horses, which is how I was indirectly introduced to the Bath Brothers Ranch.

The following year was the real starting point. Ray had called the Dunn family (Bath Brothers Ranch) to see if we could all go to their ranch and look through their herd. We wanted to take on a few older horses to provide diverse opportunities in the growth of our program. We didn’t have enough horses of age to replenish our numbers. They agreed, as they knew Ray quite well. Convincing them to let us join wasn’t so difficult, after they knew we had bought so many at the auction the year prior.

Kelsey and Randy Dunn took their day away from the ranch to show us through their herd. They were driving us out into the meadows, over 60,000 acres of land, going pasture to pasture, showing us every horse they had, and informing us of their history. The entire trip was a great experience, and we deeply appreciated their time with us as first-timers. We had a lot of horses in mind, and needed to whittle down our count before coming back another day when they gathered the herds up.

We showed up with two trailers, thinking we were walking away with maybe four or five horses. Well, we ended up rolling out of there with twelve that day! Now there was no question about it; we were all crazy. Overall, the experience was a breath of fresh air from a typical workday, and significantly better than any auction experience. We were able to get to know the Dunn family, view the fantastic Wyoming terrain, and observe all the magnificent horses in their element.

Now let me dive into our ranch’s situation in 2020, after purchasing the first round of horses from the Bath Brothers. We were in a considerable growth phase at our ranch. We had just doubled our herd numbers, and picked up twelve untouched horses from the Bath Brothers (ranging from yearlings to five-year-old stallions). We depleted all ranch funds in purchasing these horses, so financial tension was high.

I felt pressure to provide more as Roman was just born, and the wife was on full-time baby care. I traveled an hour a day to Ray’s house to work through the stud horses because we weren’t set up to handle four studs on our property. I was running on fumes trying to keep up with all the regular horses I was working, trying to get all 12 of the new untouched horses haltered (and preferably ridden before winter), and finally working through approximately 20 life coach clients a week. It was at this moment in time that a minor wildfire sparked up about 10 miles away from our ranch. That fire became the East Troublesome Fire that took our house, creating a whirlwind of new problems.

On top of chaotic world events, the timing of the fire put our ranch in a hazardous spot to succeed. The savior of our ranch was revealed to be the horses we purchased, started, and sold from the Bath Brothers. We would have been sunk if those horses didn’t work out and sell that spring, summer, and fall.

We learned through that experience that these horses bred at the Bath Brothers ranch were worth their weight in gold. Some were perfect trail horses, some were resilient working ranch horses, and a few could do it all. Thank goodness for their excellent demeanor because if they were rank, life would have been exponentially more difficult post-fire. If any of our family were to get injured during this time, we would have been ruined. We knew we wanted more of what they were breeding; because their horses adapt to any discipline and all people, in addition to being a pleasure to work with.

Their breeding program consists of a signature combination of Blue Valentine and Driftwood. Granted, they play with different bloodlines all the time, but at the core, they are faithful to Blue Valentine, and the Driftwood crosses. This type of horse seems to have it all. These horses are raised with great feet, conformation, and darn good looks. As for capacity, they perform well in any ranch work setting, leisure trail riding, high-level flatwork (dressage), and any show arena.

We visit their ranch at least once a year, and seem to come home with a few more every time. We have been more than pleased with their horses. The horses continue to transfer to their new owners and environments successfully for all disciplines all over the U.S.

The summation of the Bath Brothers Ranch is a great family with fabulous horses and rich history. We hope our partnership helps boost sale prices in their annual “Come to the Source” auction by showing people what these horses are truly capable of. The most important thing is our relationship with the Dunn family. With that as the foundation, I am excited to see where all this may lead. In the meantime, keep your eyes out for these horses, or if you want one through private treaty, don’t hesitate to reach out! Once we get them started, they tend not to stick around too long.