This summer I was able to work on a guest ranch. Not quite what ranching really is; no cows on
my end but a chance to care for horses that was reason enough for me. I’d sat behind a desk for far too long and to
be able to do something so much more physical was not only healthier, but stimulating,
energizing, and invigorating. Not since
I was a teenager had I hefted so many bales of hay, sacks of grain and
saddles. I became stronger – physically,
mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It made me feel useful, it made me feel
whole.
It only lasted six months, but it was by far the best summer
since my “ranching” days, and now I long for that life again; to be out on the
range with the cattle and horses. It’s a
tough life – winters are harsh and freezing; summers are hot and dusty; spring
rains soak you to your skin. But the wide
open skies, miles of pasture and prairie, long summer days, camaraderie of
fellow ranchers; and a good night’s sleep at the end of the day when you know
you’ve worked hard and have the satisfaction of a job well done.
Being out on a good horse with no television, computers or
impersonal contact, and the only “traffic” to speak of is the long, drawn out
lines of cattle as you move them from winter to summer pastures and back again.
How I need this way of life! I need to break free of suburban neighborhoods, hectic deadlines and the commercialism of putting the job of making money ahead of people, animals, and the land. The land…. I need to get back to the land. I ache for it It’s where I was meant to be and what I was meant to do. To know that I may never truly experience this way of life again tortures my soul and leaves me with an emptiness that nothing else could ever come close to filling.
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