Hello! My name is Cassidy Read and I am your Sunshine Patrol Host for the 2018 Summer!!

I would like to begin with a little introduction of myself before letting you know more about the "Rhythm of the Land" that took place at the Bar U Ranch today. I am currently a grade twelve student at Highwood High School and have been living in the High River area for the past 13 years. I am also an active 4-H member in the Okotoks Outriders Lighthorse Club. As a senior member in the club I been the elected Vice-President for the past two years and enjoy helping the younger members enjoy all that the 4-H organization has to offer! It has been a major part of my life and I am so thankful to have been part of such an influencial program over the last 6 years and still am to this day. Through this program I have learned public speaking and personal relation skills which are already proving useful in my day to day life. Thanks to my involvement with 4-H I am even more excited to be part of the Golden West team! As your 2018 Sunshine Patrol Host I am looking forward to staying involved with the community and getting people out to various events that are happening throughout the foothills.

It was a beautiful May day full of sunshine, smiles and learning for community members that came out to the Bar U Ranch for the annual Spring Seeding!

There was a wide array of events that people enjoyed; from watching the seeding taking place, roping, making rope to visiting the livestock on the Ranch.

Members of the "Friends of the Bar U" were there and shared some stories about what their life was like when they were ranching at their own farms and living the lifestyle showcased at the Bar U.

Youth of all ages (and those young at heart) were learning more about how farming used to be, with horses doing the work compared to the computerized tractors that many of us know today. In fact, the Bar U Ranch has the largest collection of historical ranch buildings in Canada many of which are still operational.

Personally I learned a lot about how the horses worked as a team to get the farming done and the work that needed to be done by their driver.

After talking to worker Joey McLean at the Bar U I learned that the driver has special verbals cues that are given to the horses when turning at the end of the field. They are trained to go right with the cue "GEE" and "HAW" to go left. The horses used are called percheron and although they are quite tall and confident these horses are known as the "gentle giants of ranching". I also got the chance to speak with a volunteer, Wayne, who was able to provide a commentary of what the horses and their driver was doing while they were in the field as well as told some fun stories of his own from his time farming. It was such an amazing day and I highly encourage you to get out to the Bar U Ranch at some point this summer to enjoy all the activites it has to offer. Later this year the ranch will be doing some haying demonstrations on July 7th, binding and stooking from September 1-3 and the annual harvest in September on the 15th and 16th.

If you see the Ram and I in town feel free to come up and get yourself entered for the chance to Win our All-New 2019 Ram Laramie Crew Cab where one lucky winner will be drawn at the end of this summer.

I look forward to enjoying this summer with you!

Cassidy Read, Sunshine Patrol Host