Meet the Hideout Ranch Staff
Craig and Tamara
Hideout Ranch has residents, not staff. Craig and Tamara have more than forty years of horse ownership together, and several more in practical horsemanship, each having spent years in the saddle, riding trail and riding herd. Cattle work is more pleasure, and a fascinating aspect of growing the herd is raising the annual calf crop. Watching them develop and integrate into the established herd is captivating, and we are thrilled to have three generations of our foundation cows roaming the Hideout range.
As noted in Our Story, we have worked at guest ranches, and run our own ranches and farms on either side of the Mississippi. Tamara has ridden Olympic-trained horses, competed among medalists and USET members, trained horses, reschooled horses, and given hundreds of lessons both public and private. Craig has ridden the Chiricahua Mountains for almost two decades, spending countless hours in those canyons, rocks, and pines. He knows the history, the secrets, and the stories about the good guys who blazed those trails, the bad guys who hid behind the boulders, and the Apache who escaped through the canyons.
There really is something magic about the west, about riding horses in the crisp, pure mountain air that validates the romantic notion of the cowboy way of life. Not only did Craig and Tamara meet while working at a guest ranch, riding through the high desert with guests, so did veteran wranglers Harald and Amy Evans. In fact, their entire wedding party rode to the nuptial alter and witnessed them exchanging vows, with horses, guests, and ranch staff (including Craig) in attendance. The next day, they led a string of enthusiastic guests on an overnight ride to Tombstone — on their honeymoon! Always popular, Harald and Amy spent several years riding with visitors in the mountains, combining her life-long passion for all things cowboy with Harald's adventurous life on the rodeo circuit and experience working a variety of ranches. Craig, who had ridden with them for years, tried to no avail to find them after they returned to the East. But, as Fate typically has her way, the four of us returned to the desert and have reunited at Hideout Ranch.
More than working the ranch, we live the ranch. Riding through the mountain wilderness, living in the history, rising with the sun... it's what we do. Caring for the horses and working with the cattle are central to ranch life, and we love it. We are ranchers, and we welcome you to Come Hideout ... on horseback.
Allie and Josie, 21-month old Heeler-Australian Shepard mixed pups, became the Hideout Ranch Security Team in June, 2008. Three months earlier Dally, Tamara's fifteen-year old Heeler, went to join Cleat in heaven. Cleat, Craig's Black Lab who was 21-years of age, left us in 2006. A ranch needs dogs, and losing both Dally and Cleat left an intolerable void. Allie and Josie are spirited, active, fast, and well-disciplined by the cats. They know when a vehicle drives under the front cross-bar, keep the coyotes at bay, and are in training for cattle work. Not to mention, the girls are faster than the speed of light.
Lori
Lori Mortensen has joined the Hideout Ranch staff as a wrangler and trainer, working with the newest members of the Hideout herd. She was raised in nearby Cotton City, New Mexico, participating in 4H and FFA growing up. Lori attended New Mexico State University-Las Cruces, studying Animal Science and working at the NMSU Horse Farm. It was on to Sante Fe to work at a Western Pleasure/English Equitation barn, where Lori started as an intern, soon becoming an Assistant Trainer. She also took some young horses on the side to train. Lori's next stop was Tucson, Arizona where she worked as a veterinary technician, filing her off hours with wrangling for a local stable. Not long after she returned to Animas, she began riding with us at Hideout Ranch.
Her manner with the horses is easy, confident, and they respond to her with an enthusiasm and an affection that makes their round-pen sessions and rides out into the desert. Lori is a cowgirl - there is no mistaking it. She is excited to be part of the round-up crew, spend time with guests on trails, and looks forward to sharing those cowboy dinners with everyone at Hideout Ranch.
