Bio: Dude with her mother in 1983-84. Descriptor: Girl’s week at the ranch with mother, giggling as we feel asleep exhausted and riding the wide open spaces.
White Grass 1983-1984.
I grew up in a family of five- my two brothers, two parents and me. We did a lot as a family- traveled as a pack. So branching off with just my mom for an adventure was a huge treat for me. Leaving tight, compact Connecticut for a week in wide open Wyoming for a “girl’s week” with my mom and another “mother/daughter couple” was exciting.
I had no expectations of what White Grass would be like- I just knew it wasn’t going to be the barn where I grew up riding in my hometown and knew that I didn’t have to wear my riding helmet!
When we drove up the dirt road to the ranch- I remember being excited and nervous. There were no little rings to trot my quiet, push button English pony around here- it was WIDE OPEN SPACES with frisky horses and men with the biggest chaps I had ever seen. There was an older man who walked up to welcome us and immediately I felt like he was someone I wanted to spend time with- Frank. Frank was larger then life and his huge personality seemed to fit perfectly with the huge space all around the ranch.
I have lots of memories of our week in Wyoming- my mom getting up early to “chase the moon” with some of the wranglers to round up the horses before the sun was even up (even though no one told me- I knew this wasn’t something all of the guests got to do), filling out the forms for our sack lunches that would be packed on the horses so we could head out for hours at a time and not have to come in for lunch, having a big night out at the rodeo (and thinking those barrel racers were the coolest things ever!), jumping sagebrush as our horses ran across open fields, riding into “town” (Moose) for lunch at Dornan’s, playing pool above the barn while listening to the wranglers down below, having a little crush on one of our wranglers- Mike D. McCord, sharing a bunk room with my mom and giggling as we fell asleep- exhausted from the day.
I loved our time at White Grass Ranch. I loved the people we met, the horses we rode (even the ones that I fell off of!) and the time we had there as a mother and daughter.