Let's start with City Slickers.
Generally speaking, most people that come to the Wade Ranch are City Slickers. I think that adds to the charm. Our ranch manager, Candido, has worked on ranches his whole life. He would be the opposite of a City Slicker. However, the majority of the help he gets for big work weekends and brandings happen to be people with little or no experience. You know what--it works! Candido told us a few years back how great he thought everyone was--how good they were at taking direction and doing as he asked. Often times a "real cowboy" will show up on a ranch and basically be too cool for his Wrangler britches. Not at the Wade Ranch. Even the "real cowboys" we get are wonderful people! (Hi PeeWee, Matt, Steven, etc. We love and appreciate you!)
Generally speaking, most people that come to the Wade Ranch are City Slickers. I think that adds to the charm. Our ranch manager, Candido, has worked on ranches his whole life. He would be the opposite of a City Slicker. However, the majority of the help he gets for big work weekends and brandings happen to be people with little or no experience. You know what--it works! Candido told us a few years back how great he thought everyone was--how good they were at taking direction and doing as he asked. Often times a "real cowboy" will show up on a ranch and basically be too cool for his Wrangler britches. Not at the Wade Ranch. Even the "real cowboys" we get are wonderful people! (Hi PeeWee, Matt, Steven, etc. We love and appreciate you!) We are blessed to have individuals come out who love the experience and appreciate the opportunity to play cowboy. Candido gets a great kick out of everyone. We all love him.
This past weekend called for a cattle drive of the red herd. Here you can see Big Grant (Cindy and Jason's son) and Claire driving the whole herd by themselves.
OK, not true, but doesn't it look that way? I love the image of those two kids and the huge expanse of cows ahead of them.
OK, not true, but doesn't it look that way? I love the image of those two kids and the huge expanse of cows ahead of them.The red herd is notorious for being uncooperative. One year the riders pushed the cows all the way to the holding pens several times only to have them turn back at the last minute. We planned dinner for 6:30 but didn't get to serve it to all the riders until almost midnight . (Experienced individuals were also helping.) Big, bad red herd!
Friday afternoon you would have thought they were the most docile bovines on the planet.
Father and son experiencing their first cattle drive together. 
Because there were not many riders and the herd is typically so difficult, Candido had Max pull the "cake" wagon in front of the herd. The cows are conditioned to come a runnin' with the cake wagon shows up.
Father and son experiencing their first cattle drive together. Because there were not many riders and the herd is typically so difficult, Candido had Max pull the "cake" wagon in front of the herd. The cows are conditioned to come a runnin' with the cake wagon shows up. 
I love this shot of Candido's horse--what an expression.
With the exception of one calf that broke loose, 
the drive was a non event. 
Tim even had time to take his own pictures--isn't that a hoot?
If he wasn't taking pictures, he was waving at the oh so talented members of the press corp bringing up the rear. 
Barb, excellent work steering my truck to excellence. If I ever go on a National Geographic safari in Africa as the lead photographer, you're my gal!
As the drive came to a dusty/windy conclusion, we spotted Max pull into sight.
I was a little surprised to see Hank on top of the vehicle! 
Max said that about half way through the experience, he could no longer see Hank in the back of the pick-up. Max and Garrett finally figured out he crawled up top and stayed there! That, folks, was the vanishing animal I mentioned before. That little dog surprises us all the time.
And here you can see the cake wagon and the bunkhouse. They match!! We are a very coordinating gang. I will close with two more bullet topics.
The man below is Rocky Balboa, or at least he thought he was in the pens Saturday morning. 
Supposedly Max made some crack and Rocky, AKA Jason, hauled off and popped Max a good one in his mending chest. Jason didn't even realize the error of his ways until Max said, "You probably shouldn't have done that." Jason, "Why?" I think not too long after that, he realized what Max was saying. I, for one, appreciate Jason following through. It makes what I did back in January not look so bad at all! Good times! Jason, prepare for Max to tease you about that forever.
Supposedly Max made some crack and Rocky, AKA Jason, hauled off and popped Max a good one in his mending chest. Jason didn't even realize the error of his ways until Max said, "You probably shouldn't have done that." Jason, "Why?" I think not too long after that, he realized what Max was saying. I, for one, appreciate Jason following through. It makes what I did back in January not look so bad at all! Good times! Jason, prepare for Max to tease you about that forever. And here I present Goofy done cool! 
Have a great one.
Have a great one. 
