Spring Break, Ranch Style

After surviving the long, cold winter days and anticipating the sunny summer just weeks away, kids can’t help but squeal for joy when school lets out for the spring break.  With so many days off and all sorts of pent up energy, the break always proves to be full of exciting trips and fun adventures taking them far away from home.

That is unless you are a ranch kid.

More often than not, spring break for a ranch kid looks wildly different than that of their peers.  Instead of piling in the family rig for a long road trip, these kids spend their days rarely leaving the ranch.  Before anyone feels sorry for them or condemns their parents for planning the worst spring break ever, I have to tell you that they too are having the spring break of their dreams.

I know, you are probably scratching your head, wondering how nearly two weeks at home can possibly be the exciting school break they have been wanting, but it's true.  These boys and girls have been patiently sitting at a desk for hours at a time with the weather warming up and spring work calling their name.

At our house the list of spring fun and work seems to overlap so much, we aren’t sure which it is.  Something that anyone else might consider a chore is the very fun they have been waiting for all year.  Let me share a few of the highlights we have been enjoying this spring break.

Even before the break officially started, my boys were working to get things set up to scrape out the corrals and haul manure.  Yes, sitting in the old open cab tractor flinging manure was the first thing on their list for spring break.  A smell that the rest of the world might cringe at is the very scent of spring to these ranch kids.

Warmer weather and cattle turnout on the horizon often means lots of fence repair.  Most people moan and groan with the thought of fences that new posts put in, braces built and wires stretched.  The ranch kids at my house have been begging for the day dad takes them out to fix this section of fence or that because the job means turns with the post pounder.  Not the heavy, weighs-more-than-they-do, manual post pounder most of us cut our teeth on.  Oh no, they are spoiled and get to play with the big boy toys of hydraulic pounders that make a grown man get excited, let alone a teenage boy.

Power tools give everyone on the operation a delight, even sassy teenage girls.  A drill and a lag screw might seem pretty ordinary but sinking a few dozen is an afternoon well spent if you are part of our crew.

 Instead of dad telling the kids they have to move cows, our ranch kids have been asking, almost daily, if we get to chase cows.  Sorting out pairs, moving them across the field or just down the road, they are rearing for a cattle drive.  Sometimes it's on horseback and sometimes it’s on motorbike.  Either way their souls are satisfied with the herd at their front and the dust at their back.

The invitation for a long dirtbike ride to check water is never declined because any cross range drive is hardly considered a chore.  A few jumps here and there along the way make them practically forget they have a job to do.

If they are lucky enough spring break might fall over the same weekend as a little branding.  You are totally right when you imagine a spring branding day as something long, laborious, hot and dusty.  But I’m here to tell you that those sort of days are what ranch kids live for.  There isn’t much that can bring a better grin than two heels in their loop or a well placed head catch.  Add in a good soda or a range scone and these kids will tell you it’s even better than Christmas day.

While families all around us pack up for road trips and once-in-a-lifetime adventures, my crew is just as happy to keep their boots planted right here in our own dirt. Whether it’s the work itself or the adventure that comes with it, they don’t feel like they’re missing out on a thing. Because for ranch kids, the best kind of break isn’t about getting away—it’s about getting back to the life they love.  Because out here, the work is the adventure, and the ranch is all the getaway they’ll ever need.