Mason & Morse Ranch Company: Live It to Know It

Mason & Morse Ranch Company: Live It to Know It

STORY BY LORIE A. WOODWARD

Colorado’s beautifully diverse landscape puts the entirety of America’s cherished Western lifestyle within easy reach. Within the borders of the Centennial State, herds of horses still thunder across the vast plains. Elk bugle as they make their way from high mountain ridges through the shimmering aspens into lower elevations. Skis shush through the bone-dry powder. Trout break the surface of crystalline streams as they are fooled by well-tied flies and skillful anglers.

For those looking to stake their claim on a piece of Western heritage, the offerings include productive ranches that have been in families for generations as well as custom retreats that elevate recreation to new heights. The bounty of riches can be overwhelming without experienced guides.

“At Mason & Morse Ranch Company, we live it to know it,” said Managing Broker Bart Miller. “Everyone on our team has deep roots in the land and the lifestyle with experiences as diverse as the landscape.”

Since its beginnings in 1961, integrity has been the company’s foundation which is further strengthened by hands-on experience and genuine relationships with buyers and sellers. With a reputation for straight talking, square shooting and fair dealings, the firm has earned the right to represent properties across the full spectrum of Colorado’s rich lifestyle.

“Whether it’s a productive working ranch along the eastern plains, a trophy-class hunting ranch in the Rocky Mountains or an opulent equestrian property near Colorado’s finest resort communities, our team has the expertise to make deals happen,” Miller said. “The combination of independent, hard-working people and exceptional properties makes Colorado unique.”

The Harry Vold Ranch

The Harry Vold Ranch is offered for sale at $7,200,000, which includes 16,466± grassland acres located 15 miles from Pueblo and 65 miles from Colorado Springs.

The Vold Rodeo Company got its start in 1952 when Canadian native Harry Vold, a horse trader who was crossing bucking horses between the two countries, got stuck at the U.S.-Canada border. He was en route to Montana to deliver a load of horses to the Cremer Rodeo Company when an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease temporarily stopped livestock transport between the two countries. He took the horses back home and offered to buck them out for free at a rodeo in his hometown of Panoka.

“If the horses didn’t work out, no one was out anything but the time and the experience,” said Kirsten Vold, who after the death of her father in 2017 co-owns the Vold Rodeo Company with her mother, Karen. “It was the start of his rodeo career.”

From that improbable start, Harry, who became known as the “Duke of the Chutes,” built a legendary rodeo company. The Vold Rodeo Company is one of only two stock contracting companies that have provided equine and bovine athletes to every National Finals Rodeo since 1959. Through the years, the family has produced numerous bulls and broncs of the year, the industry’s top award for bucking stock.

While the company’s success is a combination of unfailing integrity, superior genetics—many of the horses trace their bloodlines back to Vold’s native Canada—and business savvy, Kirsten identifies the ranch with its wide-open spaces and the strong, short grass prairies as the foundation of it all. The Harry Vold Ranch in southeastern Colorado is just 15 miles from Pueblo and 65 miles from Colorado Springs.

“There’s something special in the grass,” said Kirsten, a Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee who has lived on the ranch for most of her life. “It’s droughty here, so the grass is short. Dad always said that you didn’t need a lot of it because it was so strong.”

In addition, the landscape is sprawling, which gives horses room to run and build muscle and endurance in the process. The land’s inherent productivity supports operations at a large scale.

“When I was a kid, they made a Marlboro commercial on the ranch,” Kirsten said. “They wanted a herd of 600 horses to run through the shot—and we delivered.”

Plus, the winters, for Colorado at least, are milder than those at higher elevations. When storms do blow in from the north, the land is dotted with arroyos and canyons that provide protection.

Harry purchased the ranch in 1968 at the recommendation of legendary Singing Cowboy Gene Autrey. Autrey, who early on partnered with Harry in a stock contracting company, owned the Flying A Ranch nearby.

“Gene Autrey told Dad that Colorado was the state to be in and this region was the spot to be in to raise strong livestock that needed room to roam,” said Kirsten, noting Harry founded the sole proprietorship that bore his name in 1970. “He obviously knew what he was talking about.”

In fact, Kirsten is retaining a portion of the original ranch and will continue to operate the Vold Rodeo Company from there. Her bucking horses and bulls are still in high demand; she spends about 200 days a year at rodeos across the country. Her new neighbors will have the opportunity to purchase 16,466-± acres of grassland, of which 8,160± acres are deeded and 8,306± acres are in a Colorado State Land Board Lease.

“This is where real cowboys and cowgirls live,” Miller said.

While the land produces strong grass to sustain livestock, the lifestyle forges character and independence. Working alongside her father, mother and her five siblings, Kirsten absorbed the practical knowledge and traits that allow her to succeed at the highest levels of her profession.

As a child, she remembers bouncing around in the truck with her father as they moved the horse herd.

“We always used trucks and now ATVs because you can run a saddle horse into the ground trying to keep up with a herd of horses on the move,” she said.

The youngsters’ jobs were to bail out and open the gates, so Harry could continue in hot pursuit.

“You knew you’d be standing there for a long minute—you just hoped that he remembered to come back and pick you up,” said Kirsten, laughing.

When it comes to gates, her father taught her that bucking horses on the move react differently than cattle. Unlike cattle, which generally move at a measured pace and will stop at a closed gate, the bucking horses move at a full run and will plow through a gate they don’t expect to be closed. To keep the horses safe, Kirsten stretches a rope across the opening and attaches a bright yellow slicker that flaps in the wind. The herd turns away from the visible obstacle instead of running through it.

“There are just things in this business you learn by doing them,” said Kirsten, noting that each of her siblings are involved in their own stock contracting or rodeo producing enterprises. “We all watched Dad’s efforts and as his legacy, we all now try to walk in his footsteps.”

Respect for those who walk the walk is what brought the Vold children, who inherited the ranch after their father’s passing, to Mason & Morse Ranch Company.

“Our family wanted to go with people who are as established in the ranch real estate business as we are in the rodeo business; people hire us because they want top-notch professionals and we expect the same thing,” Kirsten said. “Scot Oliver and Robb Van Pelt, [principal owners and associate brokers with Mason & Morse Ranch Company] are well-known and well-respected for what they do.”

Both Oliver and Van Pelt are fourth generation ranchers and have more than 40 years of farming and ranching experience. They recognize that a land transaction involves much more than the bottom line. It’s an exercise in mutual respect, trust, and ongoing relationships.

Van Pelt said, “Kirsten embodies our philosophy of ‘live it to know it.’ It’s a privilege to represent this ranch and the hard-working family whose stewardship created a legacy that stretches beyond the gate.”

Oliver added, “Because our own roots are in the land, we understand that family land is much more than a financial asset. Land reflects their history and their lives. It’s a humbling privilege and responsibility to be entrusted with that.”

Of course, lives change, but the land remains.

“In a perfect world, I’d love to see someone utilize the land to raise livestock,” Kirsten said. “This is a great place for ranching for a first-time rancher or a long-time rancher who recognizes the multiple opportunities to use this land as we have to better the lives of livestock.”

COPPER RIDGE RANCH

The Copper Ridge Ranch is offered for sale at $5,900,000, which includes 360± acres, mountain views, wildlife haven, end-of-the-road privacy, plus direct access to over 1.4 million acres of national forest, located only three miles north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

When Rick Wilhelm’s grandparents purchased Copper Ridge Ranch in the early 1940s, the Steamboat Ski Area, which opened in 1963, was not even a dream. Mule deer, elk and a plethora of wildlife lived alongside the cattle that grazed on the then 1,400-acre property set against the backdrop of the Flat Tops Wilderness Area and Emerald Mountain.

“In my grandparents’ day, they made their money on cattle, so they ate elk and venison,” said Wilhelm, who represents the third generation to steward this productive Yampa Valley paradise characterized by superlative wildlife habitat.

Today, the remaining 360± acres, which are protected by a conservation easement, is just three miles from the shopping, dining and worldclass skiing that characterizes the modern Western-flavored Steamboat Springs. But, despite the convenience, the ranch retains its wild feel and still teems with elk, mule deer and grouse. Moose, black bear and mountain lion are regular visitors.

“The resident elk herd calves on the ranch in the spring, congregates in the winter to clean up livestock hay and feed, and seeks sanctuary here from the hunting pressure in the neighboring national forest,” said Craig Townsend, associate broker with the Mason & Morse Ranch Company.

While Wilhelm, who has spent more than 50 years on the property, no longer runs cattle here, he is an avid hunter. As a child, he and his siblings roamed every nook and cranny, experiencing the freedom of a ranch upbringing and learning the skills of woodcraft.

“Although the ranch is 360± acres, it hunts like a couple of thousand because of the lay of the land and the topography,” he said, noting that Copper Ridge borders the Routt National Forest for 1.5 miles. “You can literally walk out the back door of the house and go hunting.”

The Wilhelms’ house sits on the site he selected when he was 12 years old. While the spot is a family favorite, he included a 20-acre building envelope in the conservation easement to give the new owners maximum flexibility to make Copper Ridge their own. According to Townsend, the new owners could use the existing house, raze it and build another house on the site, or construct their dream home on another portion of the ranch.

Townsend said. “This opens the door for the next buyer to create a legacy on a permanently protected private, end-of-the-road property on the doorstep of one of the world’s premier destinations.”

While he knows that the potential for a oneof-a-kind ranch compound is phenomenal, Townsend, who is a fifth generation Kansas farm boy and an avid bowhunter himself, understands that private access to the abundant wildlife is perhaps the most substantial asset. In fact, he and Wilhelm, who are neighbors, have hunted the property together. When it came time to sell the ranch, Wilhelm turned to someone who shared his values and had already earned his trust and respect.

“Craig is a down-to-earth person who tells it like it is,” Wilhelm said. “He’s been around land and hunting his whole life, so he knows what features need to be looked at and highlighted to show this property in the best light.”

He continued, “I know some Realtors, who care about themselves instead of their customers, and I guarantee that Craig is all about what’s best for the client he is working for.”

Townsend, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a Navy veteran, agrees that a shared passion for hunting opened the door to their friendship, but that a common belief in cowboy ethics sealed it. Townsend relocated to Colorado 13 years ago to surround himself with people like Wilhelm.

“For me, integrity trumps everything else and I moved here to be with good people whose Western heritage includes a good core of morals, ethics and fair dealing,” Townsend said. “Sure, real estate can be a transactional business, but to

me it’s a relationship-based business that’s about sharing life experiences, building friendships and being there for other people.

“Regardless of the deal, you can walk away as trusted friends who share a sense of commitment; that trust and commitment carries forward, enabling business forever with those people—and their family and friends.”

2nd Chance Ranch

The 2nd Chance Ranch is offered for sale at $9,000,000, which includes 50± acres, with a world-class 33,000± square foot equestrian facility and a magnificent 7,853± square-foot primary residence, plus guest house and employee units located near Evergreen, Colorado.

The West was won on horseback, so the 2nd Chance Ranch, a 50± acre premier equestrian estate, is right at home. Located in Conifer, Colorado, just 60 minutes from the Denver International Airport, the park-like ranch is outfitted as a training center for Western performance horses but could be modified to accommodate other disciplines.

“From the exquisite home to the magnificent world-class equestrian facility, no detail has been left to chance,” said Ted Schaal, associate broker with the Mason & Morse Ranch Company. “In my 33 years in the business, I’ve never encountered a property that has maintained this exceptional level of quality throughout.”

Because the design of 2nd Chance Ranch is so harmonious, no one building is the focal point but part of a collective vision. The equestrian facility encompasses 33,000± square feet with a 200’ x 100’ indoor arena and all the stalls, runs and infrastructure necessary to house and care for fine-blooded horses. The facility also includes a thoughtfully designed lounge complete with a kitchen and bar created to cosset the most discerning buyers.

The four-bedroom main residence is 7,853± square feet of rugged elegance featuring log beams, natural wood, hand-scraped plank floors and antique doors. The effect is original and appropriate to the area.

As it should in an outdoor-oriented state like Colorado, the home includes decks and patios in a beautifully landscaped setting. The sound of bubbling water provides a soundtrack for relaxation.

Schaal, who is a horseman, has made his mark in the ranch real estate industry selling specialty properties such as guest ranches as well as recreational ranches. In fact, he has sold more guest ranches than anyone in the nation and in the process has developed an eye for the exceptional.

“Like everyone else at the Ranch Company, I live it to know it,” Schaal said. “In other words, we all walk the walk that informs our talk—and our clients can rest assured that we’re doing our best for them. They have our word. It’s our bond.”

Mason & Morse Ranch Company

877-207-9700

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