Riders and wranglers from kids to octogenarians at the Vee Bar Ranch in Wyoming
By Eileen Ogintz
Age is just a number. Just ask Tom George. He’s 85 and still leading horse rides at the Vee Bar Ranch, near the Snowy Range of Wyoming, working with the cattle herd and helping to take care of the horses.
“I don’t work,” he says. “I just show up.” Along the way, he stops to show us circles of rock left from when Native Americans camped in their teepees, in the early 1800s. He pointed out various wildflowers that look harmless but can drug a horse… or kill a cow.
Mike and Gayle Hughes are along on our morning ride with George. They are in their mid-80s and visit a dude ranch every year.
Tabatha Harders, a semi-retired nurse, is here riding with her three granddaughters, having as much fun as the girls, aged 13, 11, and 10. “I don’t have any reservations just letting them go,” she said.
Vee Bar Ranch is that kind of place, spread over 800 acres and bordering a square mile of state land. “We don’t have specific trails,” explained Brent Kilmer, who runs the ranch with his wife Kari. “We just figure out what people want to do.”
That might mean riding up a high hill for the views or loping across a meadow strewn with wildflowers. Once a week, there is an all-day ride with a lunch cookout that repeat guests rave about (Fajitas!).
The difference here, the Kilmers explained, is that there are enough wranglers — most decades younger than Tom George — so that groups typically are no bigger than seven riders and two wranglers. There are plenty of options for different riding experiences within the same group.
That may be why Vee Bar, more than a century old and owned by the same family since 1994, is so popular with families. “We get very advanced riders and absolute beginners and everything in between,” said Brent Kilmer. That includes those with mental challenges and physical disabilities who are given special experiences, whenever possible. “The horses can be quite therapeutic,” Kari Kilmer said.
Unlike other ranches, Vee Bar invites guests to come for three nights as well as six, proving a good introduction for first timers.
And in an era when so many ranches are owned by corporations, Vee Bar is family run. Both Brent and Kari, who met at the University of Wyoming, were raised on ranches. In fact, a small pair of red boots now serving as a wildflower vase in the main lodge, were Kari’s. The toes are worn through.
Families, including multigenerational groups, come here to be together, in some cases buying out the ranch for a week or more. There is Wi-Fi in the main lodge, but only spotty cell service. But with so much technology in our daily lives, the ranch offers the chance to disconnect from devices and connect to each other. Kari said some guests picked Vee Bar especially because of that.
Many guests book for the next year before they leave. For those thinking of booking, plan six months to a year out, the Kilmers said. Kids six and older can ride.
“Families tell us they don’t want to mess around with crowds,” Kari Kilmer says. “Simpler is better.”