I recently turned 50. Looking back on my life in a “Bucket List” moment I realized that most of my childhood dreams had been realized; some had come easily, others by hard work. There was one little dream however that remained unfulfilled.

Growing up in Switzerland, I spent my childhood mucking barn stalls in exchange for riding lessons. My friends and I were trained to ride in the traditional English or “Military” tradition. I loved riding and I was devoted to the horse. Working horses in the arena I often dreamed of riding with the “cowboys”; not the movie cowboys but the real deal cowboys. I wanted to ride with the wranglers that worked hard, rode all day, got dirty and thirsty and went to bed looking forward to getting up in the morning and doing it all again.

Serendipity brought me to America and let me marry a man who shared my interest in horses and horsemanship.

As happens often in our lives, Doug and I felt the same impulse pulling us toward new possibilities. Neither of us had ever ridden in a western saddle, owned a cowboy hat or worked a cow from horse back. After a short discussion, we decided to postpone a horse camping trip we had planned in Northern California and instead found ourselves packing for a trip to the Alvord.

Our rig was packed with two new wide brimmed hats, boots, borrowed chaps, lariats and a parting gift from an old buckaroo friend of ours; Ian Tyson’s CD “All The Good Uns” (this item provided the perfect sound track for our week). As we drove deeper into the Great Basin, we realized that we were in unfamiliar territory. The pine, fir and cedar trees common in our Sierra landscape were replaced by high dessert sage brush, unfamiliar shrubs and a barren, rocky geology.

The Alvord Ranch Experience is not for sissies. This is not a “dude ranch” oriented to tourists. This is a place to experience the day to day life of a working cattle ranch and to be guided through the work by very experienced and talented horse and stockmen. I could spend a lot of time describing in detail all of the various jobs we did during the week; sorting cows and calves, helping with branding a newly arrived load of cows, cutting cows and calves out of the rodear, gathering and trailing cows from one field to another. I could also go on and on about the breakthroughs we have had with our own horses since returning with new insights from our time with Martin and Jen. But I would rather tell you what my husband and I really learned.

We learned that there are still people living in the Great Basin carrying on traditions that have been passed from generation to generation with great skill and pride. We learned what a good ranch horse feels like under saddle if you can manage to get out of his way and let him do what he was trained to do. We learned that if you watch Martin Black working cows in the rodear you will soon realize that there is a world of nuance, finesse and feel that have gone into making him who he is – a horseman and stockman extraordinaire. We learned that ranch work starts early goes late and has a rhythm of its’ own. It is wonderfully dirty, dangerous, and fulfilling work.

During the week we spent at the Alvord, the stories told by Martin and Jen were the real lessons. They were the stories of their lives; growing up fast with incredible responsibilities at a young age. They rose to their responsibilities and embraced the way of life that was put before them.

We are a few months removed from our week at the Alvord. There is rarely a day that goes by that we don’t talk about that week. The best part of the experience is that we became friends with two great human beings – Jennifer and Martin Black. Oh yes and also that we did not wait until our next life to do it.