I've been on perhaps 25 week-long horseback rides on five continents. This was one of the best with great guiding, fantastic food, excellent horses, and interesting fellow guests in a beautiful landscape. A stay at the Chessers puts you in touch with what's good in life. We had intimate talks about important subjects. The home-made meals proved that if food is prepared with love, you can taste it -- steak, chile rellano, wet burritos with ground beef and green sauce, red chile enchiladas in pans, breads prepared with home-milled grain. The Chessers share ranch life, both the gritty -- chasing cows into chutes to cut off horns growing into their head --, and the magic -- an hours-old lamb; hours-old calves with red umbilical cords hanging out; bottle-feeding a calf saved by the Chessers near death after being lost by its mother in the wind. It's a beautiful, magnificent Biblical landscape, with blooming yuccas and century plants infused with the sound of meadowlarks. The horses are smooth and responsive, each one different, so if you need work adapting to varied horses, this is the place. The riding was determined by the ranch's needs, whether checking on the 19 first-time mother cows, taking care of injuries, or feeding the cattle It'll be hard to go back to rides with predictable, planned experiences the horses themselves anticipate. If you're a horseperson, ride with the Chessers while you still can. read more