Ranchlife

Saturday we arrived to Tomstone Monument Guest Ranch - after an 1.5 hour-drive from our AirBnB northwest of Tucson. The ranch is located nearby the legendary western town of Tombstone - more on that later - and is in a truly beautiful setting. 

Dusty old western town main street with reconstructed historic buildings which contain guestrooms (photo below). The saloon is the dining room with bar and lobby area, and, there are corrals and pastures for horses and cattle all around in this unusual grassland landscape. Almost no cacti in this region!

 

 

Our "Stagecoach Room"

In the afternoon we hiked to the Schieffelin Monument (below) - the resting place of Ed Schieffelin, a prospector who discovered the mineral deposits that triggered the Tombstone silver boom in 1877.

There were rides offered, archery, and, we had a full meal plan! Most interesting was to watch one of the cowboys/wranglers, Jason, training a newly acquired horse - a rescued Paso Fino - with Western Horsemanship training methods of Australian horse trainer Clinton Anderson (photos below). Learned a lot!

One of the wranglers, resting ,,,

,,, and, Peter, petting,,,