Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine August 2021 Vol 6 Issue 3

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

A simple phone contact last fall planted the seed. We had only reopened a failed facility under new ownership and a new ranch name as recently as about 5 months previous in late May 2020. Now in the fall of 2020 we are being asked if we would consider hosting Best of America in the summer of 2021. After a quick conference with the owners, we answered with a resounding “Yes”. Best of America had made a very successful visit 6 or 7 years earlier when the founder, Terry Carroll, was running the operation and we were still getting occasional calls from folks watching the reruns on RFD TV and inquiring about the ranch. (Note: Fortunately, the ranch under the name of Flying R was closed from foreclosure long enough to put their old phone number back in the available number pool. We were able to secure their old number so that anyone who tried to get in touch with them would ring into us. Unfortunately, this also included bill collectors but the good seemed to outweigh the bad!) A production date of July 17-18, 2021 was agreed upon. Fall was consumed with the process of rebuilding facilities and clientele and disappeared quickly. Winter on the ranch slows to a crawl and is basically dedicated to maintenance and planning for spring activities. In the blink of an eye, it is April and we are only three months away from having a new operation ready for a national television production. We were fully aware of the impact of the last visit to the facility by Best of America and were intent on maximizing this opportunity. We were given the basic requirements to include RV sites, stalls and other accommodations to house staff and accompanying horses. There were also the tasks of preparing for a Friday night campfire singing, a Friday night “meet and greet” reception and a Saturday night catered dinner for our staff, BOA staff and others who were paying to attend the dinner but not riding in the televised ride. The physical requirements were actually fairly simple. We certainly have adequate facilities for the activities and the other preparations only required some decorating and a couple of phone calls. That left the mental preparation of meeting the expectations (or assumed expectations) of a production staff. I am setting the stage with all of the above to drive home the reality that the BOA staff (Del and Shevawn Shields, Gary and Gloria Bass and DJ and Trish Shields) were the most gracious, unassuming guests who quickly became friends and “partners” in the production. They did have certain requirements necessary for the production but seemed to be more concerned about interfering with our operation rather than imposing requirements for theirs. The entire weekend went without a hitch (except for one little exception on the televised ride which I will address in a second). Del and I sang together at the campfire and on stage after the catered BEST OF AMERICA BY HORSEBACK VISITS NORTH FORK RIVER RANCH From a Ranch Manager’s Point of View

33 Everything Horses and Livestock® | August 2021 | EHALmagazine.com