Reining Liberty Ranch By Kierstin Gunsberg
I
t’s a rare January afternoon that the snowflakes have stopped falling, making the world seem somehow as warm as Becki Bigelow as she describes her joy in welcoming the Women Warriors visiting Reining Liberty Ranch that day. On eleven acres of sprawling pasture just down the road from Silver Lake in Traverse City, Becki and her husband Dennis invite Veterans and their families to
connect with the Reining Liberty herd of over a dozen equine, which includes a mini donkey named Tulip. Though it’s the baby goats and chickens, the children of these Veterans flock to first, says Becki, who notes that learning how to handle the delicate eggs without any helicoptering from the adults creates a sense of responsibility and purpose that comes only from being entrusted with something so fragile.
GATHER Veterans – 16
