TREGO - People are invited to learn the roping, riding, and ranch lifestyle through a unique community gathering at a ranch in Trego.
“You always want to be calm, assertive and happy when you're working with an animal. And this place brings it all together. There's no judgment in this place at all. Nobody judges anybody. I don't care who you are, or what you're doing. We just try to help, that's all,” said Joshua Foster of White Hawk Healing.
Blarney Heights Farm and White Hawk Healing work together to create a safe place for horse enthusiasts to learn the Montana lifestyle and how to work with cattle. The farm in Trego creates a serene safe setting for people to hone their skills, without the pressure of competition.
“There's no judgment, there's no times, so they're allowed to work whatever they want to work with their animal, at their speed,” said Foster.
The idea was sparked by the farm's history which was originally settled in 1896 by the Fortine family.
“We feel that it's very important to honor the heritage and the history of this property. It's good for the cows to get worked, it's good for the horses to get worked, it gives us practice and it's good to bring community together, that's kind of what we hope that this homestead is. It has been here for over 130 years. And over time, things have kind of grown up around it, but it's the one thing in Trego that's kind of remained constant,” said Blarney Heights Farm owner Brian Gorman.
One of the lessons taught at Ranch Days is how to properly interact with animals. The goal is not to train and force the animals to work with cattle, but to get them to work with you.
“I try to communicate with an animal and build a relationship. And what I do is I try to teach people to always put themselves in the animals position and see the situation that they are in, in that second, through the animal's eyes,” said Foster.
Participants learn a variety of skills through this event, but the main goal is to connect with animals, people and the history of Montana.
“And so we kind of feel like it's an unspoken calling — more or less — to kind of keep people together on a ranch and learning things that were...done as a daily thing back and back in those days,” said Gorman.
