Cowboy Riverfront Retreat

01/24/2025

Look at our kids!

We’re excited to finally have a page! A huge thank-you to everyone who has supported us so far, and a warm welcome to anyone new here!

We’re a 4th-generation Hansen family from Homedale, Idaho. We’ve worked hard to build this business from the ground up. Our goal is to deliver the highest quality and most competitively priced pipe in the Treasure Valley.

We’ve got some exciting things on the horizon!
👉 Website coming soon-stay tuned for the launch!
👉 New products are on their way!
👉 Fun announcements and updates you won’t want to miss!

Contact us today for details on available pipe inventory and pricing

Be sure to follow us here to stay updated on all the exciting things we have coming up as our business grows.

01/22/2025

01/13/2025

Wanted - Teacher for Rural Ranch Community School - Eastern Oregon - Teach at a two-room school house in beautiful Eastern Oregon! Rare job opening to teach multi-grades in a small ranching community of ~100 people. Housing provided. Peaceful, vibrant community with lots of young families and community events. Looking for experienced teacher. - For more information click on the following link - https://www.ranchworldads.com/classified.php?listing=192136

01/13/2025

Traffic in NE Oregon.
This is Old West Country.

01/12/2025

01/06/2025

Observe here a breathtaking photo of no less than 63 bull elk taken this morning near Market Lane in Union County.
**
Photo taken by Dowen Jones and sent to us by Breezy Herman.

01/04/2025

A little snow doesn’t stop a cowboy.

01/03/2025

Praying for this Mama yet again.

A mother orca, known as Tahlequah or J35, has been seen carrying the carcass of her calf, just as she did in 2018 — when she spent 17 days carrying another dead calf. Researchers say she’s unable to let go. “It’s so much harder to see now that she has lost another one,” one scientist said. Read more: https://nyti.ms/3ZZV2ar

12/28/2024

12/28/2024

The Dorrance & Stockdale way straight out of Promise Flat in Wallowa County.

He was a man who spoke softly but carried wisdom forged in the saddle. A man whose words were measured and deliberate, as if he knew each one carried the weight of a lifetime’s understanding. Ray Hunt didn’t just train horses—he transformed the way people thought about them.

Born in 1929 in Paul, Idaho, Hunt grew up in a world where horses were a necessity, not a novelty. They plowed fields, moved cattle, and hauled wagons. They weren’t companions—they were tools. But even as a young man, Ray saw something deeper in the horse’s eye. There was a question there, an unspoken dialogue waiting to be understood.

Ray’s journey into the world of horse training wasn’t immediate or linear. Like many of his generation, he worked hard and learned by doing. In his early years, he followed the traditional methods: force, dominance, and brute strength. If the horse didn’t obey, you made it obey. That’s just how it was done.

But Ray Hunt wasn’t satisfied with “how it was done.” The harder he pushed, the more resistance he felt—until a man named Tom Dorrance crossed his path.

Dorrance didn’t see horses the way most men did. He didn’t see them as animals to be broken, but as partners waiting to be understood. It wasn’t about forcing the horse to submit; it was about giving the horse a reason to trust. “Feel,” Dorrance called it, and Ray Hunt listened. He listened to the horses, too.

Hunt became a student of this new philosophy, but more than that, he became its most vocal advocate. His mantra was simple yet profound: “Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult.” To Hunt, training wasn’t about punishment; it was about creating a space where the horse could make its own decisions—and choose to follow the human.

Ray’s clinics became legendary. He didn’t sugarcoat his words or offer quick fixes. “You need to think like the horse,” he’d say, “because the horse is already thinking about you.” He taught patience, presence, and respect—for both horse and rider.

But perhaps the most revolutionary idea Ray Hunt championed was this: the horse is never wrong. If the horse didn’t understand, it wasn’t the horse’s fault. It was the human’s. “It’s amazing what the horse will do for us,” he said, “if we treat him like he’s one of us.”

And that’s the part most people miss. Ray Hunt wasn’t just teaching horsemanship—he was teaching humanity. He was showing people how to listen, how to be present, and how to respect another being’s point of view.

Over the decades, Hunt’s influence grew. He traveled the world, spreading his philosophy to cowboys, ranchers, and hobbyists alike. His clinics weren’t about creating perfect horses—they were about creating better people.

Ray Hunt passed away in 2009, but his legacy endures in the hearts of those who understand the quiet magic of a horse’s trust. His teachings live on in the clinics of trainers who follow in his footsteps, in the soft eyes of a horse willing to try, and in the patience of a rider willing to listen.

Ray Hunt didn’t just change the way we train horses. He changed the way we see them.



🎨 The Art of JOHN RALPH SCHNURRENBERGER

https://www.jrsfineart.com

12/27/2024

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."~Anne Bradstreet

Happy first day of winter!!
"𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒘𝒏 𝑶𝒇 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕" 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑻𝒊𝒎 𝑪𝒐𝒙

12/25/2024