Branding Season

Each year we look forward to branding season. Calving is coming to a close, the snow has melted and the weather is warming up, and branding season allows us to get together with neighboring ranches to work spring calves and enjoy a good meal together. It's truly the social event of the year. Because of COVID-19 we had to reevaluate how we were going to work this new crop of calves. Instead of our usual work day of 600 calves with a crew of 50+ the ranch decided to keep things in house which meant breaking up the work over several days with only help from on the ranch. It made for a much different experience this year.

In an effort to look on the bright side of things, keeping all of the work on the ranch meant that several Old Foundation Quarter Horses got their chance to work in the pen more than in a usual season. For some horses this was their first opportunity to work in the pen and put together all of the skills they had been working on with their rider during calving. It can be an overstimulating environment and is truly a test of a horse's disposition. For the newbies- they passed with flying colors.