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| I must have been happy to see Betso when they came to pick me up at camp - check out those boots! |
I drove through Guthrie Center as I traveled back from Cherokee yesterday. I'd gone there for a work trip. I took I-35 and drove on across Highway 20 on the way to the Cherokee Landfill to talk to the director and a couple other folks about my programs. The trip took longer than the meeting, which went well - they appreciated my visit. Ever the trailbreaker, I took a different route back - heading south on 59 and 71 then to 25. This route took me by a place I spent many a happy hour in my youth - Bar-L Ranch just south of Guthrie Center.
Bar-L Ranch was the summer camp of choice for many families from my hometown of Atlantic - some 45 miles from Guthrie Center. Bar-L was a horse ranch and you know how girls love horses. I was crazy about horses from an early age. Today the place looks rather shabby.
My sisters Susan and Cindy blazed the trail to Bar-L before me. I remember going along in the car to drop them off at camp before it was my turn to go. We'd watch them get assigned their horses and ride off into the sunset (or at least the show ring). It was so exciting - I couldn't wait for my turn! Dad took home movies of Cindy stepping into the saddle stirrup on one pony, stepping up with the wrong foot. You can see on the video that she realizes she's going to be pointing backwards. Funny! Ah, the stuff of America's Best Videos.
The year I turned 7, it was finally my turn! I got to go to camp with Cindy, who by then was a camp veteran at age 11, all-knowing of saddles and bits. Bar-L was run by the Luckinbill family - patriarch Harold, in my young viewpoint was a large man with a large voice. He terrified me! The girls bunkhouse was located above the mess area, with the bathroom below. We all stayed in bunk beds. It was all very big stuff for a youngster. I'd never been away from home for a week.
We arrived at camp on Sunday afternoon and were assigned our ponies as our parents looked on. I imagine my mother on that Sunday - giving me a hug and leaving me that Sunday - with tears in her eyes. No - not from sadness. She was likely giddy, thinking "a week with 2 less children!"
That first year I was the smallest kid and got one of the smallest ponies - a black one whose name escapes me now. When we did trail rides, my little black pony and I were at the end of the line. The camp counselors saddled them up the horses and ponies every morning while we dined on pancakes and sausage. Then we were supposed to help get the bit into our horse's mouth. Some of them were pretty good at gritting their teeth! and away we'd go.
I remember being intimidated by the shower room. There were big girls with boobs in there! So I can't imagine I took many showers that week - but hey we did go swimming a couple times, perhaps that helped me avoid stiff hair and smelly body. No - Bar-L didn't have a pool. We'd take the bus into town and swim at the Guthrie City Pool. After breakfast each day, we'd go for a trail ride, and if I was lucky we'd get to canter in a circle at the top of one hill. That was like getting to ride the roller coaster for me - such a thrill!
Afternoons at camp were spent doing crafts like plastic lanyard weaving, leather key rings and making clay ashtrays out of various materials. Early in the week we did a stint of square dancing - I still know a few beats, heel toe, heel toe, slide slide. I was too young to have sweaty palms about the whole deal. Plus there were few boys - so we all just danced together. I was so concerned about sitting by Cindy at mealtime that I budged in line I got a swat on the butt by Harold for my efforts. Can you imagine that happening at a camp today?
One night we got to ride our horses bareback! Wow, that was way different than riding with a western saddle. One must really squeeze with one's thighs to stay on a horse when there isn't a saddle to help!
A couple years when I was at Bar-L I got to go to "swing land". In my memory, this was one of the biggest thrills of my life, the night at the bag swing camp. That was an area outside Guthrie where seed corn bags stuffed with something were strung on long ropes from trees. There were cliff and ladder launch swings. Some seemed treacherous to get to - so to get up the courage to "do that swing" earned you some kudos. It was a blast to conquer those bags. Better than Disneyland any day!
At the end of the week, we Catholics were forced to get up, don doilies on our heads and go to church in town. How I longed to be a Protestant on that day. Character building I'm sure. Then our parents would come to get us after lunch. I attended Bar-L for 4 years. The last year I went with several Atlantic girls, including Sally, Barbie Gee and Barb Hutchinson. We had fun on a snipe hunt, ate Smores and carved our names into the sandy rock above the camp. I'm sad to see the place looking so bedraggled - especially the sagging barn.
My little piece of Americana. Carry on campers. One day, some twenty something years later, I got to take my darlin' girl Amy and niece Leslie to Bar L to spend a week. The circle of life!
25 comments:
Enjoyed reading this Leslie, the small black horse's name was Hook, I had him too! Great childhood memories so thanks for letting me relive them!
Barbie Gee
I went to Bar L for 2 years...had some of the same experiences...great memories for sure! My first year I had an old horse named Bess, the second year I had Diamond, who managed to step on my foot one time and he also fell when we were just walking along on the trail. I never figured out what made him fall - the only thing I can think of is that he was so bored walking the same boring path every day that he just fell asleep!!! Loved the snip hunt and snores!
Fun to read your post. I also was a camper in about 1960 and 61 and then was the boys counselor/wrangler for 8 more years - including about the last 4 years with the pony group (upstairs). Loved every moment and often wondered what happened to the ranch/camp. I had lost contact - going to college and on with life. Great to read your posts - and mostly just as I remember it. Harold and Winona were like parents to me as I started to work there when I was 11 until 18! Harold taught me a kind way to work with horses that I still treasure.
My wife and I are mental health counselors and we brought much of what I learned from Harold and Winona (and later from other natural horsemanship teachers like Tom Torrance, Pat Parelli, etc) - how relationships with horses can transform people and especially children (and camp counselors). We included this concept into our mental health counseling and consulting practice - and later introduced it to a health resort called the Miraval Resort and into a treatment center called Sierra Tucson - both in Tucson, Arizona.
Great to be reminded of the great bag swings and Bear Grove, the snipe hunts and bear-back riding the ponies.
Happy Trails
Thanks,
Reed Smith
www.summersmith.com
rsmith@summersmith.com
Tucson, AZ
I loved reading this and bringing back all those wonderful memories. I forgot about carving our names in the sand rock. My 1st trip was in 77 when I was 8 years old and was assigned a black pony named buckles. We did not do the sand bag game, but always had a talent show which was so much fun. So many great memories from Horse camp!
This is Cindy. I had a ball. Loved the pancakes, horses and the swings which included a BBQ. Such a great part of my life.
This is Sue Luckinbill, grand daughter of Harold and Winona. I’m on a road trip from where I live now(Idaho), back to Guthrie for a high school reunion. I was googling Bar-L Ranch and found this! So exciting to read all the stories and to know there’s people who have fond memories of horse camp. All the horses and ponies you’ve named above bring a smile to me. My parents are Merle and Helen, brother Clint and sister Cindy. We enjoyed every summer and have lifetime memories. Helen is 87yrs young and still talks about flipping pancakes!. Merle and Helen ran the ranch in the 70’s and into the mid 80’s. I was the toe head riding Belt in the early ‘70’s. Many stories of snipe hunts, camp fires, the barn swing that the boy counselors would swing campers from wall to wall. The barn still stands but saggy yes! It’s over 150 yrs old.
Best Always, Sue ‘Luckinbil’ Radford
Hi Sue! Some friends are starting a FB Alumni Group for the Bar-L! If you’re on Facebook, please join!
Hi Sue! I was at the Bar L Ranch in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I went a few years in a row. We are headed home from a Utah/Colorado vacation and I was telling my kids about the Bar L Ranch as we drive on I 80 near Guthrie Center. I remember one year I was a junior camp counselor. I loved it. My first year there I had a small horse/pony named Cotton. I also remember one year your eye was blood red from being kicked by a horse, not sure if that is accurate but that is what I remember. �� Great childhood memories that I shared with my cousins who were there with me.
Kari (Heartlein) Tangel
I went to the Bar-L for 8 summers when Harold and Winona ran it until I was too old to go anymore. Like everyone else, I have many good memories of the trail rides and other activities described in the above comments. Harold ran a tight ship and necessarily so because he was responsible for so many kids, some of which lacked some needed discipline. My favorite story about Harold is when he would turn off the lights at the top of the stairs in the boys bunkhouse and stand there for a while to make sure no one talked anymore. The second night he did the same thing. A few minutes after he went down the stairs, one of the boys whispered to another that he thought it was raining outside. From the bottom of the stairs in his husky voice Harold said, "If I have to come up there again, you'll think it is raining on you." After that, there was not any talking after the lights went off the rest of the week. But, Harold was always a very fair and likeable guy from who I learned a lot.
I went to bar l ranch when i was 12 yrs old...my horse name was penny we rode all over...loved that horse and all the.memories...
Hi Kari,
You are correct about the black eye. I was riding one of the young 'green' ponies and actually got stomped on by a hoof. Glad it wasn't a kick. It's great to hear from you! Many great memories! Best always, Sue
Penny was also my horse when i was 12 and went to b l ranch...she was the best...
When did the ranch close????
I love to read other people's take aways from camp at the Bar-L. I spent 8 summers there, but the last 3 were kind of boring to me.
Ahhh, such fond memories of Bar L Ranch! My first week of horse camp was summer 1965, my parents drove me there from Omaha... boy did I feel so grown up at 10! My first horse was a small mare named Minnie, we bonded that week and I cried when I had to leave her behind... embarrasing videos still exist today. The next summer I returned and had grown considerably taller so Harold picked out a sweet buckskin gelding named Cricket, he seemed huge to me. Such wonderful memories ��
I have been going through pictures and found all these pictures of the Bar L ranch and started to goggle it. I found this. I was a counselor at the Bar L in 1976 and 77. I have pictures of Clint, Cindy and Sue. Also have pictures of Merle, Helen and Harold. This has brought back wonderful memories. I loved this job. We had so much fun as counselors. I rode a horse called Flopsy. It was so sad when I had to leave and go back to college. I still have horses and ride today.
Hey Kim O’Hara my horse was named Strutter. Fond memories of my week and only week at Bar-L!
The Luckinbills great couple! Fun times!
I went to Bar L in 1971 and 72, my horses name the first time was Cricket he was white and stubborn, loved learning how to care for the horse, loved the crafts, food and meeting new friends,
Hard to tell if this is still active, but I was there for several years in a row about 25 to 30 years ago when it was Bill and Cindy running things. They were phenomenal. Jenny tush push is the horse I remember best. I stayed one year when it was bought out by new owners and left. But I will always remember it fondly. Best days of my life.
The person who posted this article grew up a block from my home in Atlantic. I believe she is several years younger than me. I went to the Bar-L Ranch in 1961 when I was nine years old. My horse was Nugget. I returned in 1962 when I was ten. That year's horse was Sugar. She had a colt. When I brought food to the place where the colts were fed, it was so excited it reared up and hit me square in the chest with a hoof. During an annual physical a few years ago, my doctor noted that ribs on one side of my chest seemed raised higher than the other. Oops. Might be a reason. All five kids in our family went to the Bar-L, one sister going four times. Harold Luckinbill was a character and played his trail boss role to perfection. Great memories.
I drove past the Bar L Ranch today with my son. The barn is now old and saggy but brought so many memories. My horses were Clover, Tammy, and Sparkle. Loved the camp!
You’re right. I was the first one to ride him with a saddle. So sad to hear the place is no longer there. I got a spanking from Harold, too.
Hi Sue, I remember you. I went for several years. Had Bows, Tonka, Bubble Up, Hook and Clover and there was a dapple but I don’t remember her name
I think the dapple was Tonette
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