“In the midst of darkness, light persists.”   – Mahatma Gandhi

Every December, as the days get shorter & shorter, the imminent arrival of Winter on Dec 21, motivates me to create a story about the past year.  You would think that since the darkness comes sooner each day, there would be more time to create, in the evenings.  However, the evenings seem filled with social functions. I enjoy visiting and seeing my neighbours and friends so away we go to the concert, the music jam, the festival of lights, the Games Nite or the Cantata.  My helpers must believe that they have joined a social butterfly for this season!

This 2024 Update is joining a tradition started many years ago and it will hopefully be informative, entertaining and mildly educational.  This year’s Update is more of a photo essay than some of the other Updates.  I am always extremely grateful when my crew takes outstanding photos and videos and share them with me.  There are funny videos, educational ones and some excellent photos.

The names of those who are not regular volunteers, friends and family do not appear in these stories.  However, your images will be part of the effort to record the events of the past year.  I hope that you will enjoy reliving the memories you have, of time spent at Winning Ways.

Winning Ways is not a one woman show!!! I might be the stage manager that sets all the people, animals, logistics, and events in motion but I’m SO GRATEFUL to all those who make Winning Ways an awesome place to be.  I try to remember that we are all human beings NOT human doings.  It is my intent that all those who walk/ride/drive through the gate to the Ranch find a whole new world.  

Thank you to my children who support their Mother’s eclectic lifestyle; one that encompasses so many different people from around the globe.  Vawn and Kelton enjoy meeting the folks who come from near and far to experience the Ranch’s opportunities.  They both come back to the Ranch occasionally and lend a helping hand with whatever activities are occurring.  

Thank you to the friends whom I count on when there’s a job to be done or an emergency comes up. Leonard’s name appears on the Phone List for the Ranch, behind his number is “Knows the entire ranch” AND he does!  Marilyn, Bruce, Clive and their crew have spent many hours assisting with a variety of chores. The Ladies (Banana, Janet, Loretta, Marion, Fiona, Dawn, Myrna) all help with so many different tasks. The crew at Knottacloo Farms  (John & Jackie Bury)  also receives my appreciation.

Thank you to the professionals and entrepreneurs  who provide the veterinary, medical, and mechanical skills  as well as the agricultural products needed to keep the Ranch running. 

Thank you to the volunteers from around the world.  I’m not sure I have a picture of all of you, but all those I could see in my gallery, I have put on here.  The many, many thousands of steps that you, as volunteers, have walked, would only begin to equal the thankful thoughts I have for all the time and effort you have given to Winning Ways.

Light persists in the darkness.  The coming of Winter in our Northern Hemisphere brings more and more darkness in our environment.  We really notice the daylight hours are shortened and when the full moon reflects on the white fields of snow, we are very appreciative of this silver, albeit subdued, light.  We think of Christmas as a time when a light (the Star of Bethlehem) shone in the darkness and led people to think differently about themselves and the world around them. Lights on houses, sparkling on trees, hanging from signposts and sleighs, all bring us wonder, hope and good cheer.  To honour this tradition of using lights to dispel the darkness, some local horse people organized a Cowboy Christmas parade in December 2023 just before the Solstice.  We shall start our story there.

Although it was a chilly evening, the volunteer at Winning Ways and I packed up the trailer and took 3 horses and a buggy to Meadow Lake.  We toured around the Senior’s Lodge and then went down the Service Road on the west side of  Highway 4.  We brought some light into the dark and I hope that it lifted people’s spirits.

During the winter we were able to ride frequently and to do some Horse Facilitated Development.  We also hosted families and group homes during the School Break. The crew and I even went in the Dorintosh Winter Festival Parade.

When the Easter Break occurred, we held some sessions for the students and then later in the month we started the Spring Series of Lessons.

The local Prairie ‘n’ Forest Equestrian Club organized a Riding Clinic at Renee’s in the spring to help the Club members with their training.  Loretta and I attended this Clinic, but we took each others horse. Loretta rode Dilly, I rode Carino.

There were several students enrolled in the P’tit Trot program this year, both in the Spring and the Fall Series of Lessons. One young lady completed her Bronze Level,  4 finished their Silver Level and 1 achieved her Gold Level, all received Equestrian Canada certificates.

The Winning Ways crew participated in the annual Meadow Lake Stampede Parade, even though it was rainy and cold.  The rest of the week it continued to RAIN.  I only found one picture of the 4-H Show & Sale (Ava had the Grand Champion Heifer), and none of the Bull-a-rama or the Rodeo.  We attended all the events, but we kept our phones in our pockets under our raincoats!!  There IS a video of the crew steppin’ out at the Rodeo dance.

Over the summer months we held Summer Schools and Camps.  Students of different ages learned from the Winning Ways school horses.  Some folks chose to do Horse Facilitated Development with our horse herd.

The Prairie ‘n’ Forest Equestrian Club held it’s annual Horse Show toward the end of August and the Winning Ways crew and students made a good representation in a variety of classes.  There was a fun class, “Bribe Your Pony”, in which contestants ran (most of them had to run fast, to stay in front of their pony) with a bucket of oats, negotiating a series of obstacles.  The video shows the youngest member of our Show Team bribing her pony!

There is a very small mini pony (Coffee Crisp) on the Ranch, who regularly gets to be involved in Winning Ways events, because her handler (Banana Amanda) loves to dress her up and include her as a cute photo op.  There is a Blog story all about CC’s rehabilitation.

Adam Thiessen returned to Renee’s to educate horses and riders.  This time I took Ranger to the Clinic and he certainly got some education—Thanks Adam!  Janet got to enjoy riding Mook in the Clinic again this year.

The Winning Ways Playday 2024 was filled with obstacles, games, some rain and a great bonfire (thanks Bruce and Marilyn).  There were enthusiastic riders of all ages and great assistants who helped with timing, recording, horse holding, set up, cheerleading and photography.  Yes, those are vegetables being roasted over the bonfire—that’s what vegetarians eat.  ;>)

Learners continued to work with horses in either Horse Facilitated Development or riding lessons until the Thanksgiving weekend.  The week after Thanksgiving our group of adventurers enjoyed our trip to Amazing Horse Country.  See the Blog story for that.

The crew continued to ride and we had trail riding adventures in November.      

That brings us to Dec 2024, when the horse enthusiasts again organized the Cowboy Christmas Parade.  This year the Winning Ways entourage was larger—six horses and six riders dressed up in Christmas regalia and twinkling lights.  We were unable to go close to the Senior’s Lodge because of the extremely icy roadway. We had to stay outside the road, on the grass.  Even the service road was slippery in sections.  I hope again this year, the Seniors and the crowds along the road had their spirits lifted by the sight of so many gaily colored horses and riders. 

Do you ever wonder why all our visitors are willing to get up in the middle of the night to see the Aurora?  I believe that it is the wonder and awe of seeing the heavens filled with dancing, pulsating, ever-shifting colored lights.  “In the midst of darkness, light persists.”   The Aurora is a fairly rare to almost non-existent celestial spectacle that only occurs when the Sun, in a fit of “rage,” throws out vast amounts of energy.  Energy from the solar wind reaches the Earth's magnetosphere, and charged particles spiral along the magnetic field lines towards the North and South poles. As these solar charged particles collide with Earth particles at differing heights in the atmosphere they create the dancing pattern of lights.  Enough physics.

Now for mythology .  Many cultures including the Inuit, Cree, and Ojibway credit the Northern Lights with mythological and supernatural power.  These cultures believe the aurora are spirits of ancestors celebrating life. In Sweden, the Sami people see the aurora as a gift from benevolent gods and a good omen for fishermen and farmers. 

This year I travelled to Alberta to purchase a new yearling bull.  Along the way I stopped at the Edmonton Airport and left some gals heading off on a new adventure.  Then I visited Amazing Horse Country Ranch near Rocky Mountain House.  Later, in the fall, I spent a week there with some fellow adventurers.  There is a Blog post about that story.  

Unfortunately, the young bull must have been injured shortly after he joined the cow herd.  He did sire a couple of calves, but the rest of his herd was open at this fall’s Pregnancy Check.  We are now doing a fall breeding program to see if we can salvage some of the nice young heifers that will make great replacement cows.

This year we started calving April 11; it was a nice day, and all was fine.  A few days later the weather was miserable and a cow we knew was to have twins, calved; the second calf ended up in the bathtub.  She survived, but her mother was much less interested in her, than her hour older brother.  The little heifer did stay with the cow, but she became a good thief, anywhere there was an unsuspecting cow with a calf sucking.

We held a couple of brandings this spring, one in May and another in June. We worked the cows through the chute for vaccination and roped the calves for tagging, vaccination and branding.  A few days after the brandings we took the cows and calves to the North Ranch in Cattle Drives.

After we put the bulls out to the breeding fields, we had a mini Cattle Drive to move the herd to fresh grass at the north end from the south end of the North Ranch.  There is a Blog story about the “wild, red cow” that appeared with the herd about the same time the bulls were turned out.

The Winning Ways Crew rounded up the calves, then we sorted them and I either sold or weaned them. Cattle prices are the highest I’ve ever seen—over $6/# for small steers!  They still have to be fed for close to a year and stay healthy to bring $3300/head (today’s price for fed steers) when they are slaughtered.  Margins must be tight for cattle feeders.

Although Dec 1 was cold, it was a Sunday and that is usually a good day for a Cattle Drive.  Six riders brought the cow herd from the North Ranch to the paddocks to the east of the Home Ranch. The road was somewhat slippery and some of the animals slid, but none went down.  All the riders were happy to get off and warm up after their 3-4 hours on horseback.

A few days later Dr. Ed did the annual Pregnancy Testing and that is when we discovered that nearly the whole herd which had been at home, was open (not in calf).  I discussed the situation with Ed, and he suggested that I could run the cows with another bull for a 21 day period, right now, so the cows would calve in September 2025. We will do another Pregnancy check in March to determine which cows are in calf for Fall calving.  Those not in calf will be sold.

Sheep provide comic relief for the helpers when they are doing the chores!

Before lambing started, I took the ewes to Knottacloo Farms and had them shorn; they look very different in their summer “clothes”!

All six ewes had twins this year, only the 2 year old lost one of hers at birth. Later we lost 2 more lambs, so we ended up with 6 lambs to sell and 3 that remain on the Ranch to become lamb chops for next year.

During the summer, we lost 2 ewes, Easter (born 2019) and Flora (born 2020).  Whether the smoke filled air, or some disease got them I don’t know.  Easter has been sickly for the last two years so her passing was not surprising.  I had not seen Flora sick before she was dying.  Their lambs became orphans, so we brought them to the small pen in front of the Brown’s trailer-house, to be fed lamb grower.  Later in the fall, another one of lambs was not doing well, so he joined the orphans in the Lamb Pen.

I asked Loretta if she was up for more adventure and she was willing to haul the lambs and sheep I wanted to sell at Beaver Hill Auction in Tofield, AB.  On Saturday,  the volunteers from Knottacloo Farms helped us with sorting, loading and tagging the sheep, so that all was ready for our Sunday departure. We went on a snowy morning, delivered the sheep and headed back home on roads that were somewhat less snow covered.   

I was pleased with the prices I received for the ten sheep that I sold.  I hope that I can find a transport truck going west next fall, to put my lambs on.  We picked up another ram from Eckers at the beginning of December and he is responsible for 7 ewes this winter.  How many lambs will we have next spring?

Earlier I explained a bit about the physics and mythology surrounding the Aurora.

Now for psychology.  The feelings of awe and wonder, created in those observing the Northern Lights, bring about the release of “feel good hormones” like endorphins.  Experiencing the celestial wonder of the Aurora can help us see that we're part of something bigger.  When we experience awe, it makes us feel more connected to the earth and to other creatures.  Time spent staring up at the heavens allows us to enjoy an innate instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring.  Thus, the visitors who get up in the night to view the Aurora, reduce stress, loneliness, and physical distress, besides finding a sense of expanded time, perspective, and connection.  Less stress and more kindness, calmness and creativity are great benefits to be encouraged.

The McLeans visited Winning Ways in March, and we had the opportunity to celebrate Elissa’s birthday with a supper and attending a dance in Meadow Lake.  Everyone had a terrific time!

The McLeans had 3 mommies give birth: In April, Caslyn’s 4-H project, Kit, had her calf in a nice warm barn—Marzipan was born April 17.  Then Vawn’s mule projects also arrived—Snicker Doddle & Peppermint Patti were born May 16.

In June, my granddaughter, Elissa, was confirmed in the Lutheran Church in Melfort, by her father, Chris McLean.  Her family, McLean grandparents, and uncle, plus Amanda & I were there to celebrate with her.

Later in June Caslyn’s Kit & Marzipan were Reserve Champion Cow & Calf at their 4-H Show. 

Cattle weren’t the only critters the McLean family took to a show.  I believe that Elissa took her 4-H project, a laying hen, to her Achievement Day, although I can’t find a picture.  Later Elissa showed Dixon and Vawn took Ranger to some horse shows.

The mules learned about halters

On the Labour Day weekend my kids came home to celebrate Howard Brown’s and my birthdays.  Howard’s was a couple months late and mine was a couple months early, we split the difference. We had a party with more than two dozen family and friends.  I think there were 3 kinds of meat, all home raised, and FIVE cakes!! Later the party continued around the bonfire.

Kelton visited with the McLeans after the party, and even put his engineering ingenuity to use to help get the McLean’s hay supply stacked in the barn.

When the McLeans left Winning Ways after the party they did not leave with an empty trailer!  I doubt that I shall ever get Willow back—the girls have fallen in love with her.

This fall Vawn and Caslyn travelled to Ottawa and went to jail!! Yes, the old jail in Ottawa has been turned into a hostel and the gals slept there (just to say they’d been to jail?).  They also had a chance to visit family while there, and stayed with Matt, Elaine and Alyssa as well as spent time with Uncle Frank.

Most recently Elissa and Vawn attended the Regina Agribition where they watched the Cattle Dog and Stock Dog competitions.  They sent updates on WhatsApp so I don’t have any pictures.  However, I begged for the videos of the Bull Fighting competition because I love to watch the gladiators and the bulls!

There are many great reasons to let the light shine in the darkness.  Nature’s light displays this year were VERY awe inspiring. The Aurora appeared in many places where it is rarely seen.  The colors, for those of us who frequently see the Northern Lights, were vibrant and in colors rarely seen.  The colors vary according to atmospheric gases, altitude and solar energy levels.  This year some of the solar flares have been extraordinarily powerful and this may have been the cause of the brilliant scarlet red we saw in the sky.  I received phots of the Aurora from many different parts of the world, where people were in awe of the celestial spectacle.

I am hoping all those watching the great light in the darkness and feeling awe and wonder because of it, could inspire a little more kindness and calmness in the hearts of folks around the globe.  I participated in a global kindfulness experiment this past month and I wonder if the Aurora’s influence helped to improve folks mood and kindfulness.  I hope that the light in the darkness, dispelling the loneliness, fear and worthlessness will continue to shine.