I do nearly yearly family photos for a wonderful family who live out near Pine Bluffs. Some years we go into town for the photo shoot, and other years we meet somewhere magnificent like Vedauwoo. But this year, we took their photos at their place, which is quite magnificent itself.
They wanted to include their horses and their dog in the pictures this year, so taking the pictures right there at their place just made sense. The scenery at the ranch was just the icing on the cake.
I did wonder aloud early on if they see may rattlesnakes, but my client said she’s only seen one in the entire time she’s lived there. That made me feel a little better, but I still kept my eyes peeled as we took the mile-and-a-half walk across the pasture to a hill where she wanted to get some shots. All was good all the way to the hill, and we had no troubles the entire time I was getting photos of them on and around and with and without their horses.
So we were in good spirits as we hiked back to the ranch house. As I was walking and the family members were riding bareback, a very identifiable buzzing started up right behind me – exactly from a spot I had just stepped right over. And sure enough, there was an annoyed rattler, half-coiled and arched up, ready to escalate the threats if we didn’t heed its warning. I was amazed none of the horses freaked out, and maybe it was my concern for the mounted clients that made the difference, but I also didn’t scream like a little girl and try to climb the nearest object taller than a bread box, which in this case was my wife. Maybe I’m getting old and my reflexes are slowing down, or maybe, like I said, it was concern for the people on horseback. But it was a good sign. Maybe I’m finally getting over my snake phobia. I’ll just be happy if I never have to put it to the test again.
