Sombrero Ranches' Great American Horse Drive coveres 60 miles in two days. Here author Steve Simmons moves out to checkan upcoming ravine.

 

The “Gate to Gate” challenge motivated riders in the 2005 Great American Horse Drive. Every May, the Sombrero Ranches brings its string from winter pasture to its main ranch just west of Craig, Colorado. There, the horses are shod, given their spring shots, and dewormed. Then they go to work at Sombrero’s guest ranches around Colorado; they’re leased out to other ranches and trail riders, as well.

The “Gate to Gate” challenge? Any guest rider who rides the horse drive from the exit gates of the winter pasturing area to the entrance gates of the main ranch is awarded a beautiful belt buckle, not to mention the feeling of a hard and long job well done. The usual distance is 60 miles over two days.

“This drive has been going on for 45 years, give or take a few,” said Dan Lisco, a Sombrero manager. “It’s becoming a bigger event each year.”

When I saw the ad for this event, I just knew I had to go. I was confident my Morgan Horse gelding, Cambridge Heritage (Harry), was up to the challenge. In the four years I’ve owned him, I’ve ridden him on hundreds of miles of trails in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, including a 25-mile endurance race near Santa Fe. We’ve also worked as a turn-back team for a cutting horse trainer, done ranch work in Idaho, and patrolled open space for the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live.

Every time we arrive at a new place, Harry steps out of the trailer all puffed up, head held high, ears turned forward, and eyes as big as plates. Everything is fun for and with him. We’d never tried a horse drive, but it looked like a potentially life-altering event. It was.

Early Arrival

“You don’t drive horses, you lead them,” noted Chris Perigan, a Sombrero wrangler. “It’s completely different than working with cattle, where you have to push them. Most of the work is done in front of the herd.”

“Horses move much more quickly, and they’re more herd-bound than cattle,” added Lisco. “You have to keep a wall of riders in front to both set and control the speed of the herd, and not let them get away from you. You also need a group of people at the rear of the herd to pick up stragglers.”

This conversation occurred the night before the rest of the guests arrived. I knew right then that Harry and I had taken on a brand-new challenge. Harry likes to be in front, but we’d never been in front of a herd of horses, never covered 60 miles in two days, and never before had to control such a mass of energy.

Dan Lisco and Cody Walker, another ranch manager, asked me whether I thought my horse was up to the task. “Well, he’s a Morgan with old blood,” I answered. “They’re known for their endurance and toughness.” Privately, I was more worried about my endurance.

I arrived a day early and was soon put to work sorting ranch horses into corrals. I also helped move horses from one large pasture to another and brought guest horses in from pasture. The wranglers saw that Harry and I were a pretty good team. Our previous experience working with cattle proved helpful.

In the Saddle

This year’s drive attracted people from Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and, for the first time, Canada. Guests usually arrive on a Wednesday afternoon. They can fly to Denver and rent a car to make the five-hour drive, or they can fly to Steamboat Springs, where ranch personnel will collect them. 

Guests spend the first afternoon just getting settled into the bunkhouses. There are special accommodations for couples. Guests have an opportunity to meet each other, as well as the ranch hands they’ll be working with for the rest of the week. Every night, there’s a campfire that’s kept hot until late in the evening. This becomes an after-dinner gathering point for stories, jokes, and planning.

On Thursday morning, Kathy Walker, Cody’s wife, conducts a horsemanship clinic, teaching guests how to handle Sombrero horses. Covered are horse care, tying procedures, grooming, saddling, and conformation. The ranch uses Quarter Horses and draft-horse crosses.

“We like big boned, sturdy horses,” said Walker. “We’ve found they hold up under rugged conditions.”

Riders in this year’s group included people who hadn’t been on a horse in years, as well as those who rode several times a week on their own horses. The drive program can accommodate all riding levels.

“One reason for our success is that we can pair each rider with just the right horse,” said Lisco. He’s logged every horse owned by Sombrero — more than 1,500 horses to date. He includes date purchased, behavior, and any quirks, then uses this information to pair horses and riders. During this process, wranglers let guests try their horses under closely supervised conditions in a large corral. If a horse-and-rider pair isn’t working, an exchange is made.

After each pair is settled in, the wranglers make the assignments for the next three days of ranch work and the first day of the drive, Saturday. After lunch on Thursday, another set of horses is brought in and match-ups are made for the second day of the drive, Sunday.

Guests then spend the rest of the afternoon learning to sort and move horses from one corral to another. Once the sorting is done, guests move a group of horses to a large pasture.

“This sorting in a confined area gives our guests a chance to see what working with horses is all about,” noted Lisco. “It also gives them a chance to work with their horse and for the two of them to get accustomed to one another.”

On Friday after breakfast, the guests and several wranglers saddle their horses and take off on a 15-mile ride around the ranch, which takes most of the day. Lunch is served along the way. Dry Gulch Ranch is comprised of thousands of acres behind the corrals and ranch-house facilities. Along the way are grand vistas of the rolling landscape, views of the snowcapped Rockies, and dozens of elk and deer that wander the ranch most of the year.

“We want to give our guests as much saddle time before the drive as possible,” said Lisco. “The horse and rider are a team and teamwork takes time. This long ride, as well as the sorting done the previous day, helps the horse and rider learn to work together.”

That evening, Rex Walker, the founder of Sombrero Ranches, gives a talk on the company’s history. Sombrero started in 1958 in Estes Park, Colorado, with just a few horses; it’s now grown to several ranches and more than 1,500 horses. Sombrero also supplies horses for a Tucson parade held every February, and leases out horses for movies and commercials.

After Walker gives his talk, he shows the buckle that every rider who goes “Gate to Gate” will earn at the end of the day on Sunday.

That night, everyone retires early. Breakfast on Saturday is served at 6:30 a.m.; the horses need to be on the road by 8:00. Excitement and anticipation fills the air, as we all know that this is what we came to do.

A Good Start 

When we arrived at the winter pasture corrals, we saw an amazing sight: 500-plus horses in one place at one time. A final gathering was done, and the horses were driven into one large corral to await the start of the drive. Wranglers unloaded the riders’ horses, and everyone donned warm clothing, as the day was cool, overcast, and a little rainy. A final description of the day’s activities was given to all of the guests, and we mounted up.

The drive is no longer just a quiet backwoods event; it’s become a social magnet for the whole area. Local ranch hands showed up to help, and there were carloads of photographers lining the starting route.

The drive started calmly. Lead riders started off at a trot to encourage the horses to move down the road. Guests moved to the back of the herd to move the horses out of the corral. Overall, it was a controlled start to a big event.

Most of this day’s drive was along a dirt road with open land on either side. Riders worked to control the flanks.  

Four miles into the drive, we crossed a bridge over the Yampa River. By then, the herd had gathered energy and was pushing the lead riders. As the herd rounded the bend and crossed over the river, some broke formation and headed up a hill. It took several experienced ranch hands and wranglers to collect this group and push them back to the rest of the herd.

The rest of the day was a steady workload of leading the horses, keeping the flanks under control, and driving and collecting stragglers. Guests at the back kept the rear of the herd moving without pushing too hard, as that would put more pressure on the lead riders to keep the herd in check. The entire herd can string out for almost a mile.

About 1:30, lunch was served — sandwiches, drinks, and cookies. We had a chance to rest and take in our experience of a lifetime. 

At 4:00 p.m., we reached the midpoint; time to move the herd into a pasture for the night. We loaded our saddle horses into the trailers, then drove back to the ranch to unsaddle them and put them away. 

Just before dinner, any guest who wanted more work could move the day’s horses out to a pasture and gather the horses for the next day. Most everyone went off to bed by 9:00 p.m.; the next morning, we hit the trailers by 7:30.

Escape!

Now, remember the special “Gate to Gate” challenge I mentioned earlier? As it turned out, meeting that goal was particularly challenging on this drive. At breakfast on Sunday, we learned that the horses broke out of their overnight pasture and went 10 miles or so back up the road. They also split into two groups: A larger group continued up the paved county highway, while a smaller group headed down a dirt road back to the winter pasture. We’d have to find, gather, and combine the two groups before we could even start the day’s drive. 

Most of the ranch hands and wranglers went up the paved road to gather the larger group. We guests went up the dirt road, where we gathered and held about 150 head until it was time to take them back to the highway to meet up with the larger group.

Another complication: The little town of Maybelle, along Highway 40, makes a big spectator event of the horse drive; we were expected at 11:30. We did try to notify them that we’d be late. We hit Maybelle at about 2:00 p.m., and, thankfully, the spectators were still there. We took a break on the east side of town to water the horses, collect ourselves, eat lunch in the saddle, and allow some to trade out their horses for fresh ones.

At about 2:45, we began moving the herd toward the ranch. We worked till about 4:00, then took another break to bring in more fresh saddle horses. At 4:30, we began the final drive for the last 15 miles to the ranch.

But we had a problem: The herd, which had rested twice in the previous 90 minutes, had gotten a second wind. Horses began to push the lead riders. We wanted to keep up a good pace so we could get back before dark, but we also had to keep the herd in check. Lead riders needed to work carefully and in coordination with each other to prevent any breakaways. However, by this time everyone on the drive had learned to work together as a team.

Back at the Ranch

 We brought the horses into the ranch just shy of 8:30, a little before dark. That day, we’d ended up working 11 hours, moving 500 horses almost 40 miles. As we passed Cody Walker at the ranch entrance, all the guests shouted, “Gate to Gate!” He laughed, knowing full well what we’d done and the magnitude of our accomplishment.

Dinner was a quick affair of chili, cornbread, and dessert. After dinner, we gathered around the campfire, where the guests were presented with a belt buckle; everyone then quickly headed for bed.

So how did my Morgan, Harry, do? Well, in addition to working half days on Wednesday and Thursday, plus the trail ride on Friday, he was the only horse to do the drive's entire 70 miles. At the end, his head was still up and his big trot was in full display.