Bar SZ Ranch

Welcome to the Bar SZ ranch! 
I just completed a week long internship at one of my favorite places on earth! I interned at a ranch near the Pinnacles called Bar SZ ranch. It is a family run dude ranch with every type of farm animal you can think of! They have goats, chickens, sheep, donkeys, pigs, cats, a dog, a turkey, ducks, ponies, and horses. (They show most of those animals!) It may sound like this is just another ranch, and to some people it may be. But this ranch has a special place in my heart. The family that runs the ranch is so many things. They are nice, fun, and good teachers, but one thing stood out to me the most. They are very trusting and willing to teach, just because it brings them joy. (Their head trainer, Michelle, is amazing! She teaches because it brings her joy and she loves watching people have that ah-ha moment when everything clicks into place.. She is so patient, and loves when people ask questions. I love taking lessons from her!) They also trusted me with their horses. They would show me how to do something, then give me the tools, and tell me to try it. I really appreciated the fact that they taught me, answered all my questions, then let me do it myself. Some places wont let you anywhere near the horses.The first time I came was with my church 4 years ago. We had an all church camping trip and I was awestruck with what I was met with. The ranch is 40 minutes away from a town, so there are no city lights. Which means the stars at night are amazing! I didn't see the milky way, but I saw an ocean of sparkling stars every night. Can I tell you a secret? Working on a ranch is hard work! But I loved every minute. Let me walk you through my normal day. We get up at 7:30. Meet at the barn at 8:00 for feed. Feeding takes a while because of how many animals they have. Thankfully most of their horses live out in pasture, and don't need buckets. Once we are done with feeding, we eat breakfast. After that we bring in the horses.


Watch those horses run!!
Depending on how far out the horses are, we might drive out and round them up, then push them in. Next, we would groom and tack any horses being ridden that day. (which is normally most or all of them) What we would do after this varied by day. Either we would take guests out on trail, or we would ride ourselves.When we rode, we were not riding for pleasure. We were training the horses. Michelle taught us basic training techniques. Nothing to serious, just reminding the horses of their manners and such.
Meet He who shall not be named

On the left is "Mr. He who shall not be named" As you may have guessed, he has no name yet. They just bought this guy 2 weeks ago! I heard they are considering calling him Rusty, we'll see what they end up going with!
 
Meet Charlie
On the right is Charlie. She's an Arabian mare. Shes in her late 20's but has the spunk of a four year old!! She is trained for both English and western riding and trained for basic jumping!
We would ride most of the day, but when we were not, we were hanging out with other animals. Meet Faith (the dog) and Willie (the horse) Between the two of them they cause 90% of all the action around the ranch! 

The day before I arrived, kittens were born!! Cowgirl (that's the mom) had a litter of 6 kittens. Two of which I got to name! They are so small that they fit in my hand! We were normally working with horses until 8:30 pm. After that everyone ate dinner, then we had the rest of the night to ourselves. I would go to bed around around 11:30. I would always fall asleep with a smile on my face from doing what I love all day, and the excitement of doing it all again tomorrow. 

Comments

  1. Oh, and I forgot to mention, sometime during the day we would find time to eat lunch.

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