02/15/2026
1997...we had just married in January in Idaho. We were on a ranch there, not real thrilled about the place we lived and got a call out of the blue from Brian’s good friend in Utah. Wayne Gremel asked if he wanted to move and without hesitation, Brian said yes and we moved to Utah, to a little town, sight unseen. Castle Valley Ranch, it was called... a massive ranch, centered between the mountains and desert.
God’s country for a cowboy. Brian started riding Piggy, a fresh 3 year old c**t on the mountains above Emery, riding for the ranch and the association. We summered up there with the kids, they learned all there is to living in a cow camp, moving cattle in the timber, fencing, cooking over a campfire, how to shoot...all the things that make a person resourceful, hard working, thankful, humble, and keenly aware of our almighty God in the country, the heavens, the stars, the seasons...
Piggy was there all along. He was a straight up, all business cowboy’s horse. A horse that could do it all and do it well.
Every season, doing what he was born to do.
Years later, when the kids were graduates and out of school, we left Castle Valley for home. Back to Wyoming. Wayne, the ranch manager and his wife Carrie Lou, made the trek to deliver Piggy to Brian, as severance for his years served at Castle Valley. Once unloaded, Piggy stood staring at the tall grass, waving in the wind, something he’d never seen before in the dry deserts of Utah. I don’t think he got out of his tracks for days, mesmerized by the sight of all that tall grass on the creek.
Piggy fit right in on the Y Cross Ranch, working alongside some amazing cowboying horses. Manny and Annette, Brian’s manager and wife, raised the same caliber of horses there on the Y Cross Ranch and we all felt back at home.
29 years later, today on Valentine’s Day, Piggy was buried.
He’s given Brian so many good years and so many miles. He got the job done every time, I swear he could read your mind, he’d do the job on his own.
There’s good horses, mediocre
horses and horses that are just transportation. Piggy was a top ranch horse. This has been a tough day, he will be sorely missed. ❤️
