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Wednesday, May 9, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Wrangler is a ‘good traveler’
Black Butte Stables offers
folks a taste of the trail
By Kathryn Godsiff
By Kathryn Godsiff
Correspondent
Jason Mitchell has packed
an awful lot of adventure into
the last year. Shortly after
graduating from high school
in 2017, the 18-year-old hit
the road, determined to be
what he calls a “good trav-
eler.” One who gets to a town,
finds work, makes friends,
and develops a good reputa-
tion and a cadre of friends
watching his back. This is in
contrast to a “bad traveler,”
who burns bridges as he goes
and ends up with no friends
and likely no memory of the
experience.
Listening to Mitchell tell
stories of arriving in some
small town, heading to the
local diner and asking, “Does
anybody around here need
some work done?” and then
hearing about the people who
responded, it’s easy to imag-
ine that he is indeed a good
traveler. His travels brought
him to Sisters, to work at the
Black Butte Stables. He’ll be
leading trail rides and work-
ing with owner Cody Koch,
preparing upcoming young
horses to work the dude
string.
Mitchell grew up east
of Seattle in Redmond,
Washington, and had a pretty
normal childhood with his
mom, dad and two siblings.
He remembers having many
things and nice vacations,
until his father lost his job in
the recession. Then he learned
what it is like to do without.
His grandpa is an old
rodeo cowboy who taught
his grandson about horses.
Mitchell learned to ride bare-
back on an untrained Welsh
Cob pony who regularly
dumped him in the dirt. “I
learned to not mind falling
off because it happened so
often,” he said. “Still does...”
He played sports, had a
girlfriend who also loved
horses and in the last couple
Correspondent
PHOTO BY KATHRYN GODSIFF
Jason Mitchell with his horse, Red, and his blue heeler named Dog.
years of high school, focused
more on learning the intri-
cacies of natural horsman-
ship. He also developed a
sense of adventure, influ-
enced by the book “Into the
Wild” by Jon Krakauer. The
book chronicles the story
of Christopher McCandless
and his wandering journey.
(Mitchell’s story deviates
from that of McCandless in
that Mitchell survived his
quest. McCandless died in the
bus in which he was living in
the wilds of Alaska.)
Feeling hemmed in by
Seattle’s suburbia, Mitchell
went to Leavenworth,
Washington to be a trail
guide at a resort stable. The
wanderlust didn’t diminish
and he headed east, working
at, well, whatever came up.
Construction, harvesting, cat-
tle work on ranches, anything
that made a stop in a town
worthwhile.
“There are no bad days,”
he said. “It’s never been hard
to find a job.”
Most of those jobs satis-
fied their purpose – to allow
Mitchell to eat, sleep and
experience life on a scale not
known by many. One does
Smile,
Sisters!
We’re
committed
to your dental
health!
Exceptional Health,
Prevention & Aesthetics
For Your Family!
Trevor Frideres d.m.d.
Ben Crockett, d.d.s.
p 541-549-9486 f 541-549-9110
410 E. Cascade Ave. • P.O. Box 1027 • Sisters
Hours: Mon., 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tues.-Wed., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.;
Thurs., 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
stand out as unsatisfactory.
He said if he had done some
research on the guy, he’d have
found out he was a convicted
felon, for fraud. When no pay
appeared, Mitchell decided to
move on.
“Sometimes it’s better to
cut your losses than create
conflict,” he said.
He once was held up at
gunpoint. When he handed
over his only money, a $5
bill, the robber looked at him
in disgust and went away —
with the money. Mitchell just
shrugs, saying that he’s not
that big about dollars and
doesn’t want to be in debt.
At a stop in Arizona he
was befriended by a Nez
Perce who showed him how
to survive in the wild. This
new friend also shared some
age-old wisdom on horses,
giving Mitchell the mental
tools he needed to take care
of himself and his animals
with minimal inputs.
“I’m very appreciative. I
can survive now.” He admits
to carrying a shotgun and a
.22, using them to hunt and
also using every bit of the
Black Butte Stables,
tucked behind the store and
across the road from the
Welcome Center, has been a
fixture of Black Butte Ranch
for many years. Hundreds
of visitors to the Ranch and
Sisters Country have expe-
rienced the scent of pine
trees and the grandeur of
the mountain view from the
backs of the sturdy mounts at
the stables.
Cody Koch began work-
ing at the stables in 2001 and
bought the business in 2010.
For many years the stables
sourced most of the horses
from big ranches in Canada
that supplied pregnant mare’s
urine, used in hormone
replacement therapy. That
industry has been signifi-
cantly downsized in recent
years and young horses are
no longer as available.
Koch obtained several
broodmares and a stallion
from one of the farms and
began breeding his own
replacement horses. Those
youngsters, now nearly 5
years old, are ready to join
the 85 horses currently at
work for the stables.
On any given day in the
busy summer season, around
50 horses are wrangled from
the pasture at Black Butte
Ranch into the corral at the
stables, a morning sight that
thrills visitors to the Ranch.
The horses spend the win-
ter months on pastures at
the Lazy Z Ranch outside
Sisters.
The stables are open
year-round. Koch especially
enjoys tailoring rides for
locals and their guests in the
off-season.
For more information call
541-595-2061.
Join us for
Tasty THURSDAY
May 10, 5-7 p.m.
Cava Tappi
LIVE MUSIC
Sat., May 12, 7-9 p.m.
Ken Bernstein
391 W. Cascade Ave. | 541-549-2675
corkcellarswinebistro.com
From Sisters Parent-Teacher Community
Thank You!
To Our Local Businesses for Donating to
Teacher Grants & Family Fun Nights
at Sisters Elementary School
Three Creeks Brewing • Angeline’s Bakery
Rancho Viejo • The Open Door • The Depot Café
Sisters Saloon • R-Spot Take Out • Takoda’s
La Magie Bakery & Café • The Cottonwood Café
The Gallery Restaurant & Bar • Navigator News
See WRANGLER on page 15
Sisters e Nails
&
Spa
Royal E xp erience
Th
Nails
Manicures
Pedicures
Shellac
Dip Powder
Waxing
Foot Massage
MOTHERS DESERVE TO BE PAMPERED! GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE!
541-904-0979 | Next to Bi-Mart | Open Mon.-Sat., 10 am. to 6 p.m.