Spring Training in Montana

This is not what you expected if you put “Spring Training” in the context of baseball, but what we are sharing with you certainly could happen in most areas of Montana. About the time that baseball gets into full swing, the boys who have been waiting in the “bull pens” for the prior 9 to 10 months, are finally released to do their thing. Just like in baseball, the boys in the bull pen are getting ready, most likely in a different way than you would suspect.

The ball park, pictured below, is much larger. What you see on the right side of the picture, across the warm up lane is the 1000 acre playing field, the bull pen is only about 40 acres on the left side of the picture. The guy in the warm-up lane has crossed the fence from the bull pen in anticipation of the “real game” that he has been waiting for. Last year, a little later in the season, he crossed that same fence, out of the bull pen, worked the lane just long enough to find a spot where he could get into the playing field, unannounced and without the managers approval. He played ball for a couple days until the manager found him and by that time he had given up a lot of hits and several home runs.

The circumstances are all too familiar to him again. He has been in the “bull pen” since late last spring, he remembers his experience from last spring, and we know he is much smarter than the owners give him credit for. So, the day these pictures were taken, he crossed the first fence, worked the warm up lane, and was checking out the fence into the playing field. Unfortunately for him, his owners found him and returned him to the bull pen.

Come back often and we’ll share some of his hits from last year,

A Special Valentines Day card

I remember you in the youth of our days . . .
Your soft gentle lips; your playful ways
Your warm breath on my cheek
Young love in your gaze . . .

I remember the excited anticipation
with which we rode into the hills
And let ourselves go, exploring new found skills
In flowered mountain pastures,
surrendering to our wills . . .

We rode bare back together
until our motion was one
The blue moon over the Teton's
our witts undone
By the passions of youth until the clear morning sun
Broke sparkling like diamonds and we had become one.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The years came and went yet we shared the same trail
It wasn't always easy, there were storms, rain, & hail
There was lighting and thunder,
mighty winds left clouds tattered
But we faced them together and that is what mattered.

Now, my beauty there is silver in your golden hair
But it still floats on the wind
and the trail we still share,
It matters not that we grow long in the tooth
for your soft gentle lips are as they were in your youth

I still feel your warm breath/ It caresses my check
and we still wander high trails over the mountains still seek
The wonder of it all; the beauty and the truth
And we'll get there together as we did in our youth

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Now here is your Valentine on Valentine's Day
I just wanted you to know so I thought I would say
That I really don't think it matters, of course,
that I give you this Valentine,
even though you're my horse.

To Babe with love,
Tom
(c) copyright, Tom Wolfe

Circle B Bar T looks like this

This is what Circle B Bar T looks like. This is a crystal replica of our brand that was give to us in the summer of 2008 by Chris and Hal Harnden of Fremont, Ohio. This hangs in one of the front panes in our home, overlooking our property, the Grove Creek, and the Beartooth Mountains. It was in the early fall when the picture of the brand was taken, hence the golden look of the pastures. Hal is not only Chris's husband, but also the crystal artist.

Chris and Hal made the trip to Montana to meet, Miss Ellie, a young Arabian filly that they had purchased from us. More significant that the purchase was the full circle of Chris and Marty's relationship. They are both from Fremont, Ohio and when they were teenagers, their fathers introduced them to the world of Arabian Horses. They both had Arabians and that was the start. Marty got back into the Arabian world when we moved to Fishtail in 1999. Chris found Marty via the internet looking for a horse and the rest is history.