Posts Tagged ‘Great Basin’

Great Basin Ranching Terms

September 18, 2015
Jolyn Young

Out here in the Great Basin, aka “The Basin of Greatness,” we have a few region-specific terms and phrases that aren’t commonly used in other parts of American cow country. With the buckaroo culture’s rising popularity reaching other regions in recent years via national magazines and horsemanship clinics, most folks know what a rodear and […]

Van Norman and Friends Production Sale

September 3, 2015
Jolyn Young

Pretty roans, fall colors and good friends are always present at the annual Van Norman and Friends Production Sale. The first is for sale, so if you’re in the market for a good ranch horse, grab a bidder’s number and don’t be shy about sticking your hand up in the air; if a horse is […]

Gotta Get Down? Get A Get-Down Rope.

August 27, 2015
Jolyn Young

Cowboys all over cowboy country use bridles on their horses, and out here in the Great Basin we add a get-down rope onto a bridle outfit as well. A buckaroo never leads his horse by his bridle reins, as that can bump the bit against the roof of his horse’s mouth, causing pain and damage. […]

Don’t Be Scared To Lose Your Rope

August 20, 2015
Jolyn Young

I’d been working on a ranch in Nevada for a few months, but I was still timid about roping outside. Then one day I overheard my boss tell someone “And apparently I’m the only one around here who can neck anything.” I knew I needed to do something different, but I was intimidated. What if […]

20 Things To Do While Your Husband Is At Camp

August 5, 2015
Jolyn Young

Jim is away for a few days working at the neighbor’s again, which is pretty close to being at camp. The Monitor Valley ranch, owned by the same company as the RO, is more remote than a lot of camps. It is accessible only by many miles of dirt road, with no cell phone service […]

Working out of the Rodear

July 25, 2015
Jenn Zeller

Summer is in full swing here on the ranch, and that means lots of riding time, colts to start (which means less blogging and sharing stuff with y’all), ranch interns who are here to work and learn, calf brandings galore, and plenty of extra folks around hanging out. Life couldn’t be better. Among the many […]

“You live HOW FAR from town?!”

July 23, 2015
Jolyn Young

When we got married, I think Jim took it as a personal challenge to see how far he could move me from town. Our first home was at the 25 Ranch, twenty miles from the small town of Battle Mountain and 70 miles from the larger town of Winnemucca. I drove an hour and a […]

Wrangling The Cavvy

July 1, 2015
Jolyn Young

If you want to be Cavvy Savvy, you gotta savvy how to wrangle the cavvy. Heh heh heh. Anyway, back to business. Bringing in the saddle horses is a daily chore on a working cattle ranch, as it’s healthier for the horses and more efficient for the management to turn the whole bunch out into […]