A Bi-Monthly Magazine
Borrowing From Yesterday To Do the Work Of Today
Offering Resources to Promote Self-Sufficient & Back-to-the-Land Living
Ignacio, Colorado USA
participant Ron–D–View Ranch & Outfitting, Ignacio Colorado USA, do wagon, horse and mule pack trips
& host mule training clinic.
1151 Anna Rd
Ignacio, CO 81137
970-563-9270
rondviewoutfitting@durangolive.net www.rondviewoutfitting.com
Chelly out of Chinle, Arizona, and Monument Valley, Utah; we do horse and mule pack trips into the wilderness of Colorado; in the fall we run elk hunts into the San Juan National Forest for archery, black powder, and the rifle seasons.
& Outfitting
When not on trips we try to raise enough feed to feed our 65 head of horses and mules. We do as much ranch work as we can with our horse and mule teams.
We are always training a few of the
horse and mule colts we raise for
the pack or riding string, to use in
teams to pull wagons and do the
field work, and to skid logs and rails
for our next building project. Every
year in April we host a mule training
clinic. I have a Masters in education
and have coached and taught for
15 years before buying this
outfitting business in 1985. I was
raised on a dairy farm in Minnesota,
where my father farmed with horses
and always used a team to do the
daily chores around the dairy farm.
I have been president of the Four
Corners Draft Horse, Mule and
Carriage Association since 1998.
We are located in southwest
Colorado near Durango, 30 miles
north of the New Mexico border.
- Source of power: 32 horses, 23 mules, tractor.
- Horses are used for: harrowing pastures, discing, seeding and
harrowing, plowing, pulling wagons and buggies on wagon trips and
in parades. - Acreage: 220; 1 in garden, remainder in western-style pasture and
grazing, irrigated with gated pipe and gas powered sprinkler pumps. - Other livestock: saddle and pack stock used in our outfitting business.
- Skills offered in: driving teams doing fieldwork, logging, and pulling the
chuck wagon on trips; training horses and mules to drive, pack, and ride; horse and mule packing skills and repair of related items of harness, pack saddles, and riding saddles; working in our breeding program with our chunk stallion and breeding jack; imprinting new foals. - Work hours: we get up when it gets light and go to bed when it gets dark; 12-14 hrs/day, 6 days/wk.
- Terms: room, board & learning in exchange for work; 2 to 3 apprentices
at a time, March 1st to November 15—one full season, to see what a
season is like in an outfitting business. - Stipend: no.
- Accommodations: 12'x14' bunkhouse with heating stove; farm-style meat-and-potatoes meals provided.
- Apprentice must: be honest, dependable, and gentle with the stock; be reliable; mix in and help with whatever we are doing at the time; an apprentice who wants to learn what we do must do what we do; by the end of the first week an apprentice should be able to see what needs to be done and work without constant supervision.
- Visit first: if apprentice desires.
- Trial period: one week.
