Montana in April – random thoughts on place

 John Moore, award-winning author of “the breaking of ezra riley” and other books, sent me this photo on tax day, Montana in April

As I drove down 9W from Orange County in New York State, where my stable is located, to my home, I looked down from the Palisades and out over the suddenly blooming Hudson River Valley. This is the widest part of our historic river, where the estuarial tide begins to diminish and ocean and mountain waters reach conciliance. I felt myself settle into that view with more affection than I have for any other place.

People often ask why I don’t go west since I love ranching so much. They always get that wrong: I consider ranching an impossibly difficult and hard choice, one to which you must be born. What I love are ranching’s people. How they meet their hard places: the resilience, toughness, square-deal, fair-minded decency. And, then, I love their horses.