My Wrangler

Chapter 4:

At 11:45 we head over to the house to chat with Jen a little before lunch. She's a really cool lady, she studied anthropology at Colorado State and she is starting her masters in the fall. She also begins to explain some of the basic logistics of the camp. From June through September guests stay Friday through Wednesday, leaving two days of the week for the staff to reset and prepare. She explains that each wrangler will be taking out anywhere from 5-15 riders, per ride, with the rides ranging from 2-6 hours, as well as their set of daily jobs. She also mentions one more wrangler who would arrive later in the week once he finished up at school.

The aroma of burgers and baked beans filled the dining hall. It was just us, and the cooks in the room but the energy was good.

After lunch Jen walked out to the corral with us. We opened the gate and followed her as she walked out into the pasture. We grab a couple halters and lead ropes on the way.

"Roe I was planning on these two horses being your projects for the summer. On your application it said you have worked with mustangs before so I hope it's a good fit" says Jen as she points to some of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen. One is a huge buckskin-dun, and the other is a smaller bay-roan.

Jen points to the buckskin and says "This is Maverick, and this is Salsa, because she is quite spicy", pointing to the bay-roan.

Horses have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, growing up we always had horses around to move cattle, and it just clicked for me. 

I take my halters and place them on the horses, while Jen keeps walking with Eli and Taavi towards their project horses.

I bring them both back to a round pen, I tie Maverick to the hitching rail and then remove Salsa's lead rope to see how she reacts in the pen, trying to determine how much experience she has.

After a couple hours of learning my horse's personalities, I let them go back to the pasture and head home to the bunkhouse.

Taavi and Eli were sitting outside of the bunkhouse on the porch overlooking the lake. Taavi was smoking a cigarette, while Eli was reading a book.

"Hey guys!" I exclaim

"Hey, come sit" Eli says motioning to the spot on the bench next to Taavi. Taavi holds out the pack, and I take one. I put it up to my mouth and make eye contact with him as he lights it. His hands are so rough, perfectly callused from his years growing up on a ranch.

"Tell us about you, Roe" Eli asserts

"Only if this doesn't stay a one-sided conversation" I say back

"Fair " says Eli, as Taavi nods his head in agreement

"Well, I grew up in Idaho on a small cattle ranch. That's where I fell in love with the outdoors. I came here to earn money for college and do what I love. What about you guys?"

"My dad's a mechanic and my mom is just your typical midwestern stay-at-home-mom. Taavi and I just needed to leave." says Eli

"My parents own a farm in Kansas, and I just needed to leave with Eli. We have been best friends since birth, and it just made sense." he says while exhaling smoke.

A text pops up on my phone from Jen:

"We finished the worker assignments, please meet me in the dining hall so I can discuss them with everyone" 

The conversation was uneventful, besides one thing: I got assigned the morning feeding with Taavi. By 5 am every morning we were supposed to be up and feeding the horses so they had plenty of time to eat before we began the rides.

How was I gonna survive waking up every morning that early just to spend it with a passive aggressive, borderline rude Taavi, without Eli there to cut the tension?? I just wanted to curl up into a ball and lay on the floor.