July 24, 2008 – I FINALLY SEE A BEAR

Today, I’m off for Polson, MT. I’m going to see my friends Jane and Jack Clapp who have a ranch outside of Polson and the Flat Head Lake. It’s a beautiful drive going through Missoula, and up through the Mission Mountains. We all had lunch next to the lake, and it is a beautiful day.

I've know Jane since I got out of college and moved to Kalamazoo, MI. We evented together. Jack was also an eventer, they met and married, and both became lawyers. They were successful with offices in Cleveland and Washington, DC. They still evented, and had a 50 acre farm and beautiful home in Cleveland, with a vacation home in Marco Island, FL. And now they have gotten out of law, sold their 2 homes, and bought this ranch in Montana. They are now ranchers -- birthing calves, baleing hay, and they are volunteer firefighters (one of Jack's first careers was a fireman). They've built a huge storage shed and have a firetruck right on the property. Last year was the "year of the fire" in Montana, and they were fighting fires for the summer. Jane said at one time they could see 5 fires from the deck of their house. (The picture above is the entrance to the ranch -- "Heart of Sky Ranch")

The ranch is beautiful (Picture below is from the entrance -- house is on left, indoor arena, storage sheds, many outbuildings are in the trees). They have 1,000 acres plus they have purchased another 350 across the road. And they are leasing 450 from the Flathead Indians behind their place. They’ve got 48 cows with 44 new calves (and several bulls in the field), and 9 horses (2 retired upper level event horses, 1 stallion, the rest are geldings). I believe they want to get some more cows for next year, so they will have a total of 75.

The first afternoon, Jane and I went on a hack around the property. I rode Smokey, and Jane was on Dakota. She mentioned he had been spooking a little, but usually around the barn. So we are walking and talking, and the horses are just walking and relaxed -- on a western loose rein. Out of the blue, Dakota jumped in the air and spooked – I have no idea at what. Jane lost a lot of her reins, and she was turning him to keep him under control. I thought she had him, and I turned back around, and Dakota is running and bucking in the opposite direction – right towards a barbed wire fence and rocks. Jane came off, Dakota spins around towards me, and his saddle (western) has now slipped and is underneath him (his girth broke – found a piece of it on the ground). He is now running and bucking straight for Smokey and me, so I figured I’ll be on the ground shortly when Smokey takes off and dumps me. But he just did a couple of little jumps and then just stood there – while Dakota is running who knows where on this 1,000 acre ranch.

Once I know I have Smokey under control, I turn around and Jane has not moved. OMG – she’s hurt. I know nothing about what to do, but she is conscious, and she said she can move her fingers and toes. But her head hurts. Luckily she has her cell phone and I’m going to call her husband. But without my glasses I can’t see a thing, so Jane actually made the call. Jack and her son Grant find us. Jane is sore, dizzy when she gets up, ankle hurts – but she doesn’t want to go to the hospital. You know these event people -- always so tough.

To make a long story short, I keep urging her to go to the hospital, and her ankle hurts enough that she finally does. She has a broken ankle (eventually had surgery this week to put a pin in the ankle), broken ribs, partially collapsed lung, and several broken transverse processors in her back. She’s in the hospital for almost my whole stay. This woman has evented at the Advanced Level…..and she gets this hurt while we are hacking. Horses are dangerous -- you just never know what can happen.

Jane did come home on Saturday, and on Sunday morning we had a great breakfast outside on their deck. This weather is so beautiful, you could sit outside all day -- and no bugs!! Jane sees a small dark spot running down the far hill, so Jack gets the telescope – but he’s gone over the rise. But then he comes walking back up – and IT IS A BLACK BEAR!! I’ve finally seen my bear, but at a distance (and that’s probably the best way). It was great fun.

The pictures below -- this is their house taken from the back with the deck. Jane is the one with the crutchs and the bandaged leg with her dogs, Sophie, Mattie, and Andrew. And Jack is in the kitchen -- his new found job until Jane heals.