OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2023

November / December 2023 • OklahomaHorses 23 Grimsley ultimately conducted both inter- views. Weeks passed before I learned that I had been hired. It was not until May 2023 that I learned that the business ownership had been transferred. Both Lawrence and Grimsley are lifelong horsemen. Lawrence is a born-and-raised Wyoming cowboy. He grew up on a horse, rode plenty of broncs during his rodeo days, and guided hunts during the fall and winter. Grimsley also grew up horseback. The Minnesota native has worked hard her entire life, including paying for her college education by working at Pizza Hut. Neither is a stranger to hard work. Grimsley had a self-described great job in Star Valley, Wyoming, prior to entering negotiations for the ranch riding business. Neither she nor Lawrence gave Portmann’s initial sales pitch to take over the Diamond P a fleeting thought. In fact, even after the change of ownership, Grimsley worked right up until the Friday before the ranch opened for business on the following Mon- day, May 22. (One must admit, jumping from a solid, steady paycheck into the abyss of the unknown is daunting. The overhead is high. Many factors are unpredictable. Yet jump they did.) Life at the Ranch The first rides of the season went out from the ranch into the Gallatin National Forest on May 22. Starting with eight wranglers — five females and three young men — the learning experience began for everyone at the ranch. Days began at 7 a.m. unless it was your day to bring the horses in, in which case you started earlier. Workdays typically ended at 7 p.m. or later, six days per week. I worked at the ranch until early October 2023. Although my goal had been to escape the Arkansas summer, I was also quite pleased to be receiving tips. The pay is low, although housing is included. Guides generally work for tips to pay for life expenses and/or school. The weather is unpredictable in the mountains. We had rain nearly every day for two months. The mosquitos, although small, are fierce and able to suck all the blood from horse and rider in one ride. From dawn to dusk, dirt grinds its way into your skin, tattooing every pore and crevice. There are nights when you are too tired to bother with a shower. Some guests challenge every iota of human patience. On arrival, every guest is greeted. After signing in at the office, guests gather for a welcoming speech detailing what to do and and not do in the national forest, where the riding trails are located. Afterward, the first guide out demon- strates how to go forward, stop, and turn in each direction while in the saddle. This gives everyone some level of skill before mounting up. A little cowboy humor flavors the atmo- sphere on occasion. Hands were raised to answer the question, “Who here has never ridden before?” I would holler out, “Bring out Twister, Launch Pad, Hurricane, and Diablo!” When someone forget the name of his horse, Lawrence would tell the fellow, “Don’t worry. We’ll put you on Widowmaker.” I would tell those who had never ridden that we had horses that had The author leads a young guest on horseback at the Diamond P Ranch. Photo by River DeLiso.