Despite the ongoing drought our hay barn is nearly full this fall, and what a blessing. In such a drought, our pastures and fields cannot provide enough forage for all the horses and cattle to eat in the warm months, in addition to enough hay for the winter.

But our neighbors, John and Samantha Brandreth, of Brandreth Farms, generously gave us several of their hay fields to mow, fluff and bale. And right now we have leased neighboring pasture for current grazing to give our pastures a rest. We drilled grass seed a week ago and we are anxiously waiting for the necessary rain to cause the seed to germinate. Then we will fertilize. Pray for rain, and soon.

What a pleasure it is to step outside. To feel the crisp, clean air and just look around. The leaves are turning now at the ranch and all around us on the mountains and foothills. It feels like just what it is, nature’s last technicolor production before the quiet, bare bones beauty of winter. Come see for yourself.

Today was a busy day at the Ranch, with Dewey Campbell, our excellent farrier, busy trimming and putting shoes on all our horses.  Horses need shoes to protect their feet from rocks and rough surfaces and to correct for uneven growth rates.    Dewey trims and balances each foot, and then custom fits a shoe. �

The basic skill of the farrier has not changed in hundreds of years, although now-a-days there are some new materials on the market for specialty needs.  Each shoe requires between six to eight nails, and the nails range from 1 ½ inches long to three inches.  The shoes Dewey uses are made from cold rolled steel.

Dewey has been shoeing horses for 21 years and received his education at the Oklahoma Farrier College.  He comes to the ranch every six to eight weeks.   If he’s here when you visit be sure to take a peek at his work – it is a very important part of horse keeping.

The farrier's tools.

Dewey trims each foot.

The shoe is custom made.

Our latest building project at Seventy-Four Ranch is the addition of a new building that is attached to our Western Village.  This building will provide us with temporary storage and eventually become a primitive cabin complete with a woodstove and great views of the pasture.

All our cabins have been built by Jim Wilson – from ideas to finished product we always love what he designs.    Jim takes great pride in his work, and loves creating authentic rustic buildings for us, in keeping with our western theme and the skills we are preserving.

Jim unloads the lumber.

The walls go up.

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Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church celebrated the annual blessing of the animals in honor of the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is the patron saint of all animals. Larry and Pam Butler and foreman Menny Lozoya took two trailers of horses. Blue, her fillies Emma and Susie, plus Diamante and Blue’s colt Bengal all received blessings, as did the ranch’s three big dogs: Max, Moon and Diddy. A blessing on herds, and animals everywhere.

This year’s foals, Eclipse and Badger, are in training with Pam Wilson at her Ballground facility. Each day Pam leads them on her 4 wheeler and studies them as they trot and lope. Already we can see a difference in muscle tone, particulary in Eclipse. Daily baths, supplements and grooming are making their coats shine. We spent some time with them Saturday. Pam has put them in stalls across from each other, so they can see each other. They have been together every minute since Eclipse was born when Badge was 9 days old. Now they call to each other whenever one is being trained out of sight of the other.

The riders of the Seventy-four Ranch were proud to be the Grande Finale of this year’s Marble Festival Parade  Saturday morning through downtown Jasper. The day began sunny and cool, and the route was lined with enthusiastic spectators. This year owner Larry Butler chose the ranch’s red traditonal western bib shirts for the ride.  The bib serves two purposes.  It adds an extra layer of warmth and should it get dirty, it can just be taken off. Larry is happy to report all our horses were well-behaved.  This is an annual event for us.  Come join us next year, take in the festival, and then relax at the ranch.

We could hear the storm coming Saturday afternoon. And I hurried to feed Annablle, the Corriente calf we have mothered since her mother died when she was three days old. Lightning was roaming the sky to the west, and it was quickly darkening. Annabelle finished off three bottles, and then went off to join the herd.

Annabelle enjoys a meal

Our guests, Corey and Sara Anderson, joined Larry and me on the back porch with all our dogs, of course. And the sky opened. Wind swirled around the hail that punctuated the driving rain.

Larry and Max as hailstorm begins

Can you see all the hail in the photo?

Corey took these great pictures of Larry and Max enjoying the storm. For most of the summer the storms have skirted us, coming agonzingly close, but leaving us with just a spit of rain. Saturday we got a blessed inch and a quarter, and by Sunday afternoon the ranch was the rich green of Ireland once again. The horses, cows, plants and humans are all happy and grateful.

Our herd has grown to 17 horses with the addition of Charlie, a fourteen year old Appaloosa gelding. Charlie is having a great time getting to know all his new pasture buddies and learning the herd’s daily routine. We thought we might have to keep Charlie separate for awhile so we could slowly introduce him to the herd, but he ran up to the fence and met everyone without any of the typical biting or kicking, so we let him in the pasture and he has fit right in.

Charlie is a red roan, meaning he has red hair flecked in to a mostly cream colored coat. His mane and tail are a strawberry blonde color. Yesterday he came up to the fence and I hardly recognized him – he had rolled in the mud, then let it dry, and it was caked on him – he was completely brown! We had to hose him off to be sure it really was Charlie underneath!

To meet Charlie and all his friends, come on out to Seventy-four Ranch.