The boys were thrilled when Ricky called and invited them to come to his ranch for his clinic. We had a little drama getting ready because our farrier trimmed Pepper too short, and he went lame. But after having the vet check him, and eventually getting the ok, the boys and Mr. Bechtel headed for Nebraska.
On the way they stopped between Laramie and Cheyenne at Remount Ranch, which is where Mary O'Hara wrote her famous My Friend Flicka trilogy. Nova Spy and I have read those books countless times, and I love them so much that it practically hurts to read them. I can see the grass blowing, the huge clouds floating across the blue sky, and the beautiful horses grazing on the uplands. It's just amazing.
Ricky and Sarah's ranch is in North Platte. The boys learned a ton and had a great time with everybody there, especially Dave Hicken, who they met last year in Heber City.
The last night of the clinic, Ricky had a friend over who cooked steaks for everyone. Mr. Bechtel said it was the best steak he'd ever had. He just placed himself conveniently by the cook, and the cook would cut him off little tidbits of meat every few minutes for him to try.
The boys got roped into singing a few songs afterwards. This made Golden Delicious and I nervous: Did everyone else sing too? Were they embarrassed? What did they actually sing?? Mr. Bechtel reported that, no, no one else sang, the boys were slightly embarrassed but got over it, and they sang a lot of stuff out of the Ricks Family Songbook, with Chris LeDoux and Kingston Trio being the favorites.
It was a great experience to learn from Ricky and see his place.
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