American Cowboy article

There is a paragraph about Burnt Well Guest Ranch in the American Cowboy June/July issue in “The Best Ranch Vacations of the West” article. It reads: Why go: In the few short years since opening in 2003, the Chesser family has built an intensely loyal clientele from all over the world. The Chesser’s literally open their home to guests--a maximum of ten at a time--with family-style meals served at their own dinner table. The relaxed conversations are always rich and intimate. The riding: Cattle drives are the specialty here. And when you saddle up to move the herd, it’s not just for show. This is a working ranch. You’ll likely get a chance to ride with other working cowboys on neighboring spreads. If you’re looking for the authentic cowboy experience, this is your place. by Mark Bedor, thanks Mark

Well, I got caught in another whirlwind and over two weeks have gone by! We had a great group for the cattle drive!! Great sports in spite of some very unfavorable circumstances out of our control! We took the puppies along, their 4 weeks old now. Here they are in their very own ‘puppy’ tent!

The weekend before the drive, the guys, Kim, Tye and Tim along with our other team members were in a ranch rodeo in Lovington. Here’s a picture of them in the grand entry. Lots going on, will hopefully add more before too much time goes by!

Blooming Yucca's

The Spanish Daggers (Yucca’s) are blooming everywhere! They’re so beautiful! Here’s a shot of some of the ones near the bunkhouse. You can see Gravy in the foreground sniffing out something? Oh, by the way, our Border Collie, Biscuit, has 8 “Borgi” (Border Collie/Corgi [Gravy’s the dad] mix) puppies born April 6! They’re still under the house, but when she brings them out, I’ll post a picture of them.

A Crazy Few Weeks!

Where did the time go! Lots going on! Since I last wrote, Patricia’s mom lost her husband to a very quick battle with Lymphoma. Our sympathies go out to her! The same week Tim Ballard (Kim’s ‘cattle drive’ right hand man and Tye’s best man at his wedding) and Alison Hammill got married. Alison is our kid’s friend that they met while working at Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado. Burnt Well was host to many of the Lost Valley staff that attended and were in the wedding.

During that time, also, Kim got 15 horses shod for the upcoming cattle drives and Patricia and Sarah (our neighbor/friend) started painting the ‘casita’. We’re enjoying guests this week from Oklahoma and have a new helper on the ranch, Marty, from the Chicago area. He hit the ground running, working on some native landscaping around the ‘casita’.

Spring Break guests

We just completed two weeks of two amazing and delightful families each of those weeks. Thank you to the Mathison’s and Boyce’s for sharing your sweet, healthy families with us! You make what we do here at Burnt Well Guest Ranch feel FAR from work! We have two weeks before Tim & Alison’s wedding, lots of guests staying here for that wedding, regular ranch guests then gearing up for the first cattle drive and a busy May. During these two weeks we hope to get some painting done on the ‘casita’ and maybe begin some of the finishing work! I’ll be glad to get to the furnishing of it so I can uncover my treadmill and empty out the storage shed, both of which are buried under and packed with stuff for the ‘casita’!