Rainy Summer Days
This summer was one of the soggiest summers we have seen, and boy did we have a great time! We were all impressed with how fun the families were that came to see us, and were game to go riding with us, despite the rain. Before any riders leave the barn, we are always sure to outfit everyone with rain slickers (these are great rain jackets, that cover past the knee). We don’t always need the slickers, because there are plenty of times we’re blessed with good weather. But we are sure glad to have them if we need them! If our riders bring down extra layers (which we recommend with Colorado weather!), we just tie those on top, on the back of the saddle.
All us wranglers have great stories of riding through gully-washers over the years, laughing and riding with our riders, while we head back to the lodge to get a hot cup of coffee or tea. Or, if you’re a cowpoke, you might have your sights set on that hot chocolate!
Doug, ever wonderful, always has a fantastic fire in the lodge whenever there is a big storm or a cold front. When we are riding back to the barn, I always make a point to check from the barn, and while I can’t see the lodge, I can see the smoke coming up from the chimney. I instantly start to warm up! We’re lucky, too, because if it’s pouring, one of the maintenance men, Jane, or David usually zip down to the barn in a van to come get us if we didn’t have a vehicle to go up the hill to the lodge in. We are always happy to climb in!
It doesn’t always rain on us, and so many weeks are full of sunshine and blue skies. But we always say, and it’s true, the days we tell the stories about the most are the days of being caught in those boot filling rains, when we slicker up and head for home. When those brave souls settled the west in the first place, they didn’t always have the perfect days for riding, and it gives us a chance to live the west through their eyes for a brief moment in time. Then, we escape to the sanctuary of the lodge, and wrap our hands around a hot mug of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa, and regale stories of the day, and get excited for the next!
Despite chilly fingers, boots being a little soggy, and all our leather tack needing some love when it eventually dries out, these are the days I tell the most stories about. In my retellings, maybe the rain gets a little harder, or maybe the puddles a little bigger, possibly the mud a little deeper… but that just the evidence of an incredible adventure at my favorite place on earth.
