Jan 20 2010
Interview with a Cowboy
Dee Steed riding Snickers on a horseback riding vacation
“Why is that horse hobbled?” I ask as I swing open the gate to the arena at the Kay El Bar Guest Ranch.
“He’s a busy boy,” replies Head Wrangler Dee Steed as he smiles in reference to the bay horse who is hopping up and down on his front hooves, still tied to the hitching post.
Indeed, Snickers is like the Energizer Bunny hyped up on caffeine. Snickers is a gorgeous seven-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse and, like most adolescent teenagers, he is raring to go.
The three ladies are mounted on our horses and ready to move out behind our wrangler wearing his custom cowboy hat. Steed settles into the saddle and loosens his reins, all the motion that is needed to send Snickers moving forward.
Bootlegger Trail
We are off to ride the Bootlegger Trail by way of Oasis Canyon. Typically, an all-day ride for well conditioned Quarter Horses, today we are riding Tennessee Walkers and they will be up the canyon and back before the lunch bell rings. What a wonderful way to spend a day on a horseback riding vacation. In fact, one of the riders accompanying us was on a horseback riding holiday all the way from England.
Busting Broncs to Herding City Slickers
A professional bronc rider on the rodeo circuit, I asked Steed if he preferred cows and wild horses to chaperoning guests on a horseback riding vacation. With a sheepish grin, Steed replied that he liked guiding folks from the Kay El Bar Ranch on trail rides. I’m sure the fact that he is fed home cooked meals three times a day doesn’t hurt either.
Cowboy Dee Steed takes guests on horseback riding vacations at the Kay El Bar Ranch
Photos and YouTube video by Nancy D. Brown
Kay El Bar Guest Ranch (800) 684-7583 or (928) 684-7593
Wickenburg, AZ 85358
Great interview – Dee is such a cool character, isn’t he? He really kept us all laughing! I’m already dreaming about going back…
[...] of south central Pennsylvania, Buck Valley Ranch is a four bedroom guest house filled with cowboy memorabilia and antiques. The three day all inclusive stay, of $275 per person, allows guests to [...]
[...] riding vacations and cowboy cookouts. Our two children, teenagers now, remember the time when the cowboys arrived on horseback at our chuck wagon dinner. The horses wild-eyed, nostrils flaring, carried gun blazing cowboys into [...]
[...] your memories of ProRodeo evoke wild-eyed bulls, bucking broncos and clowns running in to save cowboys from first-hand encounters with the tip of a brahma bull horn, you won’t be disappointed. [...]
[...] I crave good hearty Cowboy cuisine, I turn to Cowboy [...]