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 Wilderness Survival Class If you ever wanted to learn how to survive in the wilderness, now is your chance. Come to the Double Circle Ranch and join Vincent Pinto, owner of Ravens Way Nature School and become a survivor. Vincent will be here at the ranch May 21 through the 25th to teach shelter building, tool making, medicinal and edible plants, animal harvesting, navigating by the stars and more. It will be a fun class but it could also save your life – and your family’s or friends’ lives. Check out our programs at the Double Circle Ranch and get signed up asap. This could be the most important knowledge you ever learned!
Sign up now for the Wilderness Survival Skills class.
 Jerry Deverse Western Art - Takin' It Easy All you artists need to take advantage of Jerry DeVerse’s Western Art Painting class here August 12th thru the 15th. Jerry is an excellent art teacher with 25 years of experience teaching high school art classes plus private classes and workshops. Since he teaches all skill levels and in any medium, this workshop at the Double Circle Ranch will have something for everyone. Of course the ranch is always beautiful and there will be plenty to paint or draw.
Personally, I wish I could paint like Jerry. He has won national recognition with a Grumbacher Gold Medallion and 2 Grumbacher Bronze Medallions and is the recipient of the prestigious Phippen Family Cowboy award and many Best of Show awards. His paintings depict ranching life just as it is – in detail. And they are beautiful. But I have about as much art talent as I do music talent – a big zero. I will be herding the Texas Longhorn steers for the real artists to paint. At least I can ride a good horse even if I can’t draw one.
 Dee Bar, Our New Dude Ranch Horse I am just as tickled to get a new horse as I was when I got my first very own pony almost 55 years ago. Where some women buy jewelry or shoes with matching handbags, I buy horses. Of course horses can’t be stuffed in a closet. They come complete with needs – feeding, shoeing, doctoring – all of which cost money. But who wants a closet full of shoes when they could be out riding a good horse in wide open country!
I bought three horses from Texas. One is Poncho, Chris Farris’ sorrel gelding – a real nice little horse that should work out well here at the Double Circle Ranch. Poncho will be gathering some strays tomorrow- already earning his feed.
Then Chris had a friend who had gone off to college and wasn’t using his horse. It is a mare and I don’t usually buy mares, but this gal is one of the sweetest-natured, gentle horses that anyone can ride safely – plus she rides well and ropes, etc. – good little ranch horse. She’s a little thin and needs a set of shoes but is going to be a keeper. She’ll be used a lot on our guest cattle drives, team building challenges, and trail rides. She isn’t a tall horse but big enough and will be real pretty when all her winter hair sheds off.
My third new horse is unusual. He is an extremely well bred big sorrel – a real looker. He was kept to be a stallion on a good quality, small size AQHA ranch near San Antonio. Unfortunately, his owner became bedridden for a long time and finally died leaving his widow with her hands full of weanlings, yearlings, broodmares and two stallions. Meantime “Dee Bar” became a gelding and was sent for training as a reiner. After that training, the horse basically didn’t get to do much. He got trail ridden by a neighbor occasionally, but spent most of his time in pens or stalls. So he is 7 going on 3 in training. But he is even tempered and very smart – and absolutely gorgeous. We hope he will make a great ranch horse – he certainly has the potential.
I think my husband has put a stop to horse buying – at least for a while.
 Chris Farris the New Dude Ranch Hand Well, we finally made it home after two weeks back East. Sure was good to see our working dude ranch again. I thought I would fill my empty trailer on the way West – and I did better than I thought. I filled two horse trailers and hired a young cowboy till he goes back to school in August. I got a good deal all the way around. Doug, Roland, and I can sure use the extra set of hands to catch up on ranch work and get our horses back in shape after the winter.
We were lucky to get Chris Farris from Ennis, Texas. He is one of the young generation that gives us old folks hope for the future. At 20, he owns his own horse shoeing business, has his own gear and horses, truck and trailer, and is going to ranch school to learn A-I, livestock health, etc. – a young man with a plan and his head on straight. Plus he is a good hand – easy on the stock and handy as a pocket. I called Chris’s ad on a ranch gelding and bought the horse, hired Chris, and had him haul the horse and another horse on his way out here. Sometimes things just work out well that way.
 Erosion Control Workshop Lunch Break We are filling up early – again – for the erosion control workshop in April. People are coming from the Los Angeles area, San Diego, New Mexico, Tucson, Phoenix and northern Arizona. I love to see new people here at the Double Circle and also to see old volunteers, who have become friends, show back up. Together we get a ton of work done and have a great time. I hope we can get funded for more of these Craig Sponholtz – Dryland Solutions workshops in the future. This is a small conservation project compared to some city and county projects, but the cumulative effects are very beneficial to the Eagle Creek watershed. Plus we are training people how to slow erosion, and they are using the training to help their watersheds in three different states. This is a great project and we are proud to host it!
 Dude Ranch Horses in Snow We will be traveling across country to haul my retired dude ranch horse to Tennessee. Something about hauling an empty trailer back just galls me. So, we are stopping in Texas to look at horses for sale. I need a personal horse replacement – Cadillac will be hard to replace. Plus I have room for two horses- so I might as well buy two – if I can find what I like. We always keep a string of good ranch horses at the Double Circle Ranch. You can’t work cattle on 40,000 acres without horses- and good ones at that. Plus we have people coming for cattle drives, trail rides, and riding lessons. We want everybody well mounted.
Anyone out there who has good, solid, broke geldings for sale along I-10, e-mail me. Some women buy shoes , some buy knick knacks, I buy longhorns and cowponies. Shoes would be a lot cheaper!
 Cadillac - The Dude Ranch Horse Well, an anticipated sad day is fast approaching. My old reliable dude ranch horse is getting retired. Old Cadillac just isn’t holding his weight out on pasture and the mountainous terrain is getting too tough on him. He has so much try in him that I am afraid he will hurt himself trying to work like he did as a young horse. I hate to see him go – he has been a darn good horse for a lot of years. Cadillac has done a lot – been a 1st rate trail horse and cowpony, ponied young horses, led pack horses, been a demo horse at riding clinics, taught handicapped kids to ride, and even refereed polo matches.
He is lucky though. I am hauling him to my friend Cele’s house in Tennessee. Cele is a genius at getting old stock in shape and taking care of them. She will get to ride Cadillac on easier rides and use him in clinics. Hopefully, she will remember that he can still turn out from under you and get gone in a hurry if asked. You have to ride this old gelding.
However, something about hauling an empty trailer back across country galls me. I will stop in Texas on the way back and try and buy two more ranch horses. I doubt I will replace Cadillac – but I will try. If I get a horse to be half as good for half as long, I’ll have my money’s worth.
 Texas Longhorn Cattle in Snow We are going to have a wonderful spring – because we are sure getting the winter moisture this year! We had another 12 inches of snow or so in our higher country and almost 2 inches of rain in the lower ground. Grass is going to explode here in another month. There should be fat stock and healthy wildlife this year. Plus these wet snows sure are pretty. It isn’t what most people think that southern Arizona looks like, that’s for sure. Of course, guests to the Double Circle Ranch get a lot of surprises when they come here, like rolling grassland as far as the eye can see, tall pines, clear mountain creeks, and mountain ranges stretching for what seems like forever. And yes, we do have cactus!
 Visitin at the Old Double Circle Lodge We have people signing up for our programs this spring. The erosion workshop will be full quickly and the other classes are filling up too. We have people coming from close by and far away. Anyone attending a class or program here is always welcome to come early or stay later than the program lasts. Tell us what your interests are and we can arrange for however many extra days you would like. We can take you horseback riding, herding longhorns, hiking, swimming or just relaxing by the campfire listening to Roland’s guitar, (no rap music please!). That is what makes custom ranch vacations at our version of a dude ranch so special. We design a day around what you want to do – even just a single person. You aren’t roped into set times and plans with a big group of people. It is like owning your own ranch for a day – or a month. Coming to the Double Circle Ranch is an EXPERIENCE – not just a vacation.
 Cowboy Art - 4th Generation on the WD by Jerry Deverse Jerry Deverse will be coming to the Double Circle Ranch when the weather breaks. He will be going to different areas on the ranch to pick painting sites for his Western art painting class August 12-15. He chose August because we tend to get some spectacular afternoon thunderstorms. Now that is great for people to take pictures and then go to a nice, dry, spacious classroom to paint. I however will be horseback moving the Texas Longhorn steers- in the storm. I really don’t mind – I always keep plenty of slickers.
I was thinking about Jerry’s workshop. That is the deal of the year for either beginning or professional artists! You get a comfortable walltent with private bath, 3 home cooked meals a day, the most beautiful western scenery you’ve ever seen, transportation on the ranch, personal instruction from a great western artist, and models – cowboys, cowgirls, horses, and lots of colorful Texas longhorn cattle. At $650.00 all inclusive, it is cheaper than model fees alone would be. What a deal!
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