2022 Christmas Letter

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We have been so grateful in 2022 to see the return of so many of our overseas friends and guests! We had missed our international crowd throughout the travel restrictions. It really felt like we were back to normal with our diverse mix at the ranch. We had a very successful year, though not without trial. We hope you are also looking back at 2022 with a smile.

The guest ranch was busy this summer with a long, full season of fabulous guests. The horse herd was amazing and we were very pleased with everyone’s performance throughout the season. We had awesome interns this year and have been so proud of all of our staff as well. It was hot and dry this summer but fortunately not too smoky. We’ve welcomed in a long cold winter with some wonderful snowpack so far. We hope that this will heal the lack of groundwater that was suffered last season. Three days prior to Christmas we got to enjoy some balmy Arctic weather, feeding hay and caring for the horses in -40 degrees. Christmas day is supposed to be almost 40 Fahrenheit, an 80 degree swap!

Zack was supercharged through 2022 on housebuilding. The home for Ben and Maria is coming along beautifully, and we hope they will be moving in by spring. He only took time off to stack hay and get involved in local politics. The home was bricked in throughout the summer and the fireplace all finished. Now they are finishing up the interior.

Patty was without rest as usual, managing the bookkeeping, bookings, kitchen, and watching grandkids. We have been encouraging her to get out and ride more, which was successful until our weather became very cold. She loved the clinics through the end of September, riding with Dave and Jody Ellis and Martin Black always inspires us all to keep improving. She has agreed to increase our staff here at the ranch for next year also, which we are all looking forward to.

Ben and Maria are doing well. Maria’s shoulder has healed and is getting back to it’s old strength. This year they were asked to be respite foster care for a little girl, Rosie, who will be 15 months old at Christmas time. It’s been a joy having her around, but we will not know for many months if Ben and Maria will be able to adopt her. Our prayers are that Rosie is able to be put in the place that is best for her, and we are grateful to have her here.

Tom and I have our hands full with Arthur and Sofia. They are both communicating more and more, and it’s so fun listening to their stories and interpretations of things. Arthur loves the sky and stars, and Minecraft. Sofia can’t get outside enough and is crazy about horses. Tom is doing well working at SoFi. Anna always wants to be out with the horses, and continues to improve at rehabilitating lameness.

Our friends and staff are doing good. Justi is in Mexico at Los Barriles teaching kite-surfing for the winter. Julia is taking care of lots of maintenance through the winter here. Kilian is keeping Zack supported on all his projects. Bridgid is hauling hay and feeding cows and horses and helping with the kids this winter. Maddie is caring for all the horses and going through the tackroom maintenance, stitching leather and building new headstalls this winter. It is looking like a long cold winter, but we are keeping busy and productive.

Merry Christmas to everyone and may you bring in 2023 with joy and good cheer!

~The Rocking Z Family and Crew

2021 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope that this finds you healthy and happy as the year comes to an end. 2021 was a good year for us with some big changes in the mix. Thank you all so much for being a part of our life!

Zack and Patty are doing well, staying strong and continuing to work hard. Patty has had a feat keeping track of all the bookings and necessary adjustments due to Covid the last few years. However, in October and November she took advantage of some mild weather and free time to assist in starting and developing five young horses along with Justi, Bridgid, and Julia. Zack spent much of the year working on the normal building maintenance and farming tasks.  But he got the opportunity to start a new project as Ben and Maria finally decided to build a house up at the Beach place.  Zack has been assisting with the design, drawing, and building of this new home, just a few miles upstream from the main ranch site.

Ben has had a busy year managing pastures with the current and ongoing drought, while at the same time juggling horseshoeing and house building. The cattle are looking good and he welcomed a new foal out of his best rope horse mare, Lulu. He named the foal Beach to commemorate their new home up at the Beach place.

Maria was just as busy as usual all year, riding and training all day every day from March until September, until she sadly tore her supraspinatus muscle in her shoulder. This required shoulder surgery in October, followed by many months of recovery and physical therapy. She is healing well though and insists on cooking and taking care her niece and nephew while she is stuck inside.

Anna and Tom had a baby girl on February 18th and named her Sofia Patricia. She is simply amazing when she laughs and it brings so much joy into the room. Today she is working hard on walking, taking Grandma’s hands, and traveling all through the lodge. Arthur will be four come next February.  He is continuing to work on his talking and taking good care of his baby sister. He is always up to something and loves to build! Anna is managing the horse herd through its natural transitions and training when she can while acting as mom, wife and horse guru.

The ranch had a fun-packed year with our guests and staff. The 2021 guest season was possibly one of the busiest on record, even with all the great staff and interns.  Justi is back to Mexico for the winter, but she was able to work with three young horses (Cider, Chief, and Ocho) this fall which she is very excited about.

Julia is staying warm working through the so far mild winter we’ve had helping everyone with winter tasks and projects.  She has a three-year-old colt named Jack she is riding, as well transitioning her project horse Maggie to the guest string for 2022. Tilly continues to grow it seems, but recently reached that milestone age of 1 years old!

Bridgid continues to work with her colt projects (Wyatt and Lynx) with more time to spend with them. She has learned a lot and had to get creative as both were keen on some aerial acrobatics to start!

Maddie is restarting and progressing some older horses that have come to the ranch this year with the hopes that they will be ready to work come next season. She continues to handle much of the day-to-day care of the horses and really enjoys the time she spends with them.

As usual, much has changed and yet very little has changed on the ranch this year. We have many new faces in the horse herd and we’re excited to continue their transition into the guest string while offering our staff new and exciting training opportunities. We’re hopeful that 2022 offers more opportunities for our European friends to visit the ranch again.  Stay healthy and remember soon we will all get to be running free across the fields once again. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at the Rocking Z!

2020 Christmas Note

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Patty and Zack driving Fizzy

Merry Christmas!! Jesus comes into the world as a baby and we rejoice. 2020 was our 20th year as Rocking Z Guest Ranch. We took our first guests June 28, 2000. The year 2000 had very large forest fires especially in Yellowstone Park. Many of our guests that year were fishermen looking for extra activities near the river, which at times was too hot to fish. We have steadily grown our business and reputation every year since. 2020 was set to be the best year ever. We were starting with being full the last week of March, expecting a booming season.

With all the adjustments that everyone has had to make since early this year, we have been grateful that life on the ranch didn't change too much. We always have lots of projects and this gave us a little time. Justi came home from Mexico early. We got more horses ridden and buildings and trim painted. We confirmed what we knew about work miles helping a lot to get our horses in shape, for without our guests our “getting in shape season” was lacking. We missed our visitors so much during lockdown, as our priority is always how to make things better for you. We were all here riding and living without being able to see the fruit of our labor for a long time. When we got to have our guests we were overjoyed.

It was exciting to be able to open on June 1! Guests who were booked were able to come. It was great and so appreciated. Some groups were able to reschedule, many moved their reservation to 2021, and many from the US were still able to make it, often at a later date. We really missed all our Europeans, Canadians, Australians and beyond! It will be really great when you can come and visit us again. By the middle of August we started to fill up for the fall. Many people wanted to relax and enjoy the outdoors and living like we used to just for a little while. We had guests through October, which was fantastic. We are incredibly hopeful that the vaccine will allow us to be fully open again, and that flights will be able to safely restart.

Anna on Caspian, Arthur on Sizzle, Patty on Indy, Zack on Remi, and Maria on Zoe

Zack always has said when asked if we are a success, "Success is being here next year." We are here. We survived. Part of the time we thrived. We all stayed healthy. No one even had sniffles! We are looking ahead to 2021. We are planning on the year we thought 2020 was going to be. We are sorry to have missed out on celebrating our 20th Anniversary, but that just means we will have to have some really big celebrations for our 25th.

Ben and Maria with little Libby

Zack and Patty delayed some large projects on the ranch for a later date. Zack is keeping busy though, finishing out many older projects around! Patty has been working with younger horses getting them prepared to be ridden. Ben and Maria were able to host their annual ranch rodeo again this year, which was a big success regardless of all the modifications! Anna and Tom are expecting in 2021, Arthur will turn 3 in February and will get a little brother or sister right after.

We look forward to seeing many of our old friends. People have been very generous to us and it has really helped. We made many new friends. Everyone of you has played a part in our success these last 20 years. We appreciate you all, and we hope that all of you get to be with your loved ones in some way, even through a screen, throughout this holiday season. May God bless you and may you stay healthy.

2019 Family Newsletter

Firstly, a HUGE “Thank You” to everyone who has supported us throughout 2019. This goes for family, friends, staff, guests, and everyone working in the area who does their piece to make our ranch possible. We are so grateful to our guests, new & return, for you are what keep this ranch alive and lively. Writing this in a quiet lodge, with Dolly Parton softly singing in the background and snow outside the window, I can’t help but compare it with the contrast of the summer with its bustling energy and strong sunshine. Looking around me, I know we will all be well-rested and very ready for the guests in 2020 who will be celebrating our guest ranch’s 20th anniversary with us.

Maria and Ben on Blaze and Lulu

Looking back over 2019, there are so many special moments to recall. We’ve picked a very few to share with everyone, but this is by no means a full list!

In January, Anna, Tom, and Arthur moved full-time to the ranch. Tom has finished his PhD, and has received permanent residence status in the U.S. He is working full-time in Helena at a financial institute called SoFi. Anna and Arthur are on the ranch, and their schedule is pretty varied. It’s lovely though, because Anna gets to ride, teach, and treat horses and also be Mom without too much worry.

In June, Julia changed from having a work permit to becoming a full permanent U.S. resident. That means we have one more year-round, full-time employee. We are so pleased to have Julia with us here, and she is enjoying her little house in Canyon Creek and working in the sometimes freezing weather (though she definitely prefers the warm!). We call Julia “Your Highness” around the ranch, because she can reach things without a ladder unlike the rest of us. She is a great asset to the ranch, and we are so pleased to have helped her realize her dream and move to Montana.

We got to spend some very special time with family this year as well. Taking the grandkids out riding is something very dear to Patty’s heart, and she was overjoyed to get to ride more this past year with many them. She hopes that this year you have all also gotten to spend time with your own families and make memories.