At home on the range. An Englishwoman in Big Sky Country

Melissa Kite pulls on her cowboy boots, climbs onto a horse and lets the serenity and space of Big Sky Country weave their magic.

Ronald Reagan was fond of saying that there’s nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse. After a week at the tranquil GBarM ranch in Montana I can vouch for the fact that the Gipper’s catchphrase also applies to women.

I have wanted to go to Montana since meeting a local cowboy dressed from head to foot in Western gear in a bar in Soho. It seemed to me that he was from a place where people are supremely happy to be what they are. And so, almost five years later, I arrived – somewhat stressed out – in Bozeman, full of expectations of the wondrous effect that Big Sky Country was about to have on me. Sure enough, as we drove through the night to Brackett Creek Valley, I began to relax. With no street lighting there was nothing to see, and yet I was aware of being surrounded by huge chasms of space. As I got out of the car at the log-built ranch house, I was greeted by a pungent waft of sagebrush. The sky was a riot of stars.

Full Story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2006/09/11/etranch11.xml

***

Cowpokes and city slickers gather at Puyallup Fair http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6089056p-5337931c.html