Brown Canyon Ranch

Yesterday B Troop appeared at the Brown Canyon Ranch Open House as they do every year. The ranch is not far from Fort Huachuca and once supplied beef to the fort. It is no longer a working ranch but a group is trying to preserve it for historical reasons--similar to the Empire Ranch but on a smaller scale. We traditionally park our horse trailers at a trail head near the ranch and ride through the back country to get there. Now there is an easy, flat trail from the trail head to the ranch but we, being stud-hoss-hombre sort of men, like to take the worst possible trail. This trail is about two-feet wide and is about as steep as a cat's back. One step off the trail and you're a goner. It is also overgrown with oak trees requiring the rider to simultaneously duck under branches and steer his horse down the narrow trail. Our photographer, Ty Holland, recorded the whole thing. He asked us to meet him at the grave marker along the trail which none of us ever noticed in the years we've been down that trail. But, sure enough, when we found Ty, we found the grave marker. We're not sure what is beneath the stone--probably some cavalryman who failed to keep his horse on the trail. Ty would take photos of us and then ask us to wait while he scampered down the trail to set up the next shot. After a few minutes of waiting we'd hear his voice way down in the canyon informing us he was ready. Then we'd urge our horses down the rocky trail. The horses kept their heads down to better pick a path down the loose, rocky trail. I was carrying the colors, naturally, and was simultaneously trying to steer the Wonder Horse while laying back with the guidon to keep it out of the tree branches. Once in a while I'd miscalculate and the spear point would get hung up on a limb. A horse in motion tends to stay in motion so if your guidon gets hung up in a branch the forward motion of the horse combined with the rearward action of the branch slowly pulls the spear out of your hand. If your lucky the spear point breaks free, of not the branch launches the spear into the man behind you. More than one trooper in the past has caught a flying guidon spear as it catapulted by him. This time, fortunately, I was able to recover the guidon each time it got hung up. Finally, mercifully, we managed to get down onto flat land and arrived on time at the ranch. We put on a little show and then spent an hour or so answering questions from the crowd. The weather was perfect and Ty took a bunch of great photos some of which are posted here.