Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

We are so grateful to everyone who helped make 2025 what it was. For some of us it was a year of healing, others a year of strategizing, and for everyone, a year of improvement. No matter which area you look at at the Rocking Z, personal or business there was growth and that means so much to all of us.

We had a great time with our guests this year. Our wonderful neighbors opened up some more riding for us so there was a little less need for trailering to do lunch rides. Our horses are rockstars and made so many things possible. We couldn’t do anything without them being as good as they are. We met new friends and caught up with people we hadn’t seen for a while, and added some new staff who are already planning on returning next summer! Thank you everyone, we couldn’t do it without you all.

Zack and Patty had an interesting year beyond the ranch as well. With Zack’s role in the Montana legislature they had some very unique experiences. A highlight was getting invited to attend the Calgary Stampede as part of a delegation from Montana. They loved the tours and learning about the province north of us. It is one of the first times they have vacationed in the summer (they must be trusting us more)!

Patty took on a daily sojourn with chasing the herd out every evening. This solo time horseback quickly became her favorite moments of the year. We are awfully proud of Grandma Patty still wrangling horses at 73! She spent much of the spring last year transitioning the booking system, sorry for the delays that caused! Finally got things functioning by the end of spring but there were some hiccups. Zack is still doing politics at the moment but when at the ranch is working on his building projects. At this moment, those projects include: building staff quarters, repairing a scraper that he bought, and cleaning up debris throughout the ranch.

Maria and Ben have had a great year. The girls getting bigger and more confident. Rosie is so bold and Alexandra just too sweet. They are skiing and boating and having fun. Ben guided fishing along the Missouri for a few days a week all summer. They got a good price for their cattle. Maria was riding and working while improving her hip with physical therapy and maintenance. Her horse projects throughout the fall will surely be new favs next year.

Anna and Tom have had a great year and worked toward finding better balance between work and home. I have a tendency to work long hours and miss out on kid time and family time at home, so this year was truly awesome as we refocused on ourselves a bit. I think it made me more productive while at the ranch too, but maybe I’m biased. I had more fun though and ended the season with more energy than I have in a long time! Arthur and Sia are doing so well, Arthur is in second grade and excelling. Sia has quite the imagination and suddenly has been teaching herself to read and write this last month.

Julia has settled into her new home and is excited for her future on her own property in Montana. She is still finishing some details internally on the house but it is cozy. Julia is having a great time working with her raffle horse, Mayo, and finds her very clever and engaging.

Justi is back to Mexico for the winter and building parts of her house near Los Barriles in Baja del Sur. She finished out the year very happy with Kateri, her curly project horse, enough so that she started teasing me about stealing my horse. Of course she actually loves Cosmo more but I loved seeing how Kateri came through for her.

Maddie had a fun year with her little filly, Denali, being born and working with Denali and Mesa together. She also progressed with her project horse, Summer, and was taking her out on lunch rides before the end of the season.

Bridgid was away in Nebraska for the summer but returned to us in September and will be with us all winter. Her project, Wyatt, progressed to having staff all summer this year and did soo well!

Maddie, Harriet, and Camille with Captain

All of us thoroughly enjoyed the year. Of course moments got stressful but we wouldn’t appreciate the quiet winter nearly so much if there hadn’t been stress preceding it. So far the winter hasn’t been too cold, although the whole state had truly intense winds last week. Some damage was done at the ranch but less than many others endured (although cleanup will still take time). Overall we are hopeful that we will get some good snow in the coming months. We hope that each of you reading this knows you are so appreciated and we wish you the best for 2026. Hopefully, our paths will cross in the not-so-distant future.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

~Anna (on behalf of the whole Rocking Z family and team)