“Riding to the Rescue”
Charity ride offers “Best of all worlds”
Billings Gazette, June 26, 2006
Story by Jan Falstad

  As the twin dun-colored mules with the bold lightning stripes down their legs heaved the wagon into motion, the greener horses snorted and stomped quickly raising dust and their rider’s heartbeats. Excitement spiced with a taste of danger evaporated after a few miles as the 85 horses and two wagons spread out and settled down to the trail pace through the Bull Mountains. The second annual Chase Hawks Memorial Association ride at the Dahl Family’s Runamuk Ranch attracted more than 100 people from Montana and North Dakota and as far away as Florida.

Relaxing ride-
  Fifth-generation rancher Toby Dahl started the ride with a short speech:”I’m Toby, I know the way,” he said as he rode off, spurs twirling.
  Sunshine, craggy rock outcrops, towering Ponderosa pines and the occasional red splash of Indian paintbrush marked the relaxing ride. Horses flushed Western meadowlarks, which resumed their melodic trills from distant driftwood fence posts. Riders with hot horses trotted or loped hillsides until the animal settled down. Another 15 people including a handful of kids, and Spud Cremer, the last Montana sheriff to handle his job horseback, rode in one of the two wagons. His right arm was slung in blue to protect a separated shoulder from a wreck the week before,”the horse got into wire in high sagebrush and he blew up,” Cremer said. A wounded wing didn’t stop Cremer from four-plus hours in a bouncing wagon. “My daughter’s boyfriend is driving and I’m riding the brake,” he said.

Trails and tales-
  The ride offered sweet scenery and glimpses into the Western lives of folks you might not meet otherwise. Two women talked about taking riding lessons from Toby Dahl, whose ancestors founded the ranch in 1886. The more experienced rider reassured the other. If Toby doesn’t yell at you, you’re doing good,” she said. “If he’s quiet, you’re doing it right.” A teenage rider from another party piped in, “That’s right. The best compliment you can get in a lesson is “There.” As in, “There, you’re finally doing it right.”
  The whitish-yellow flowers long gone, yucca pods rattled ominously as horses’ legs brushed by. The prickly pear cactus is halfway through its summer display of rich red, pink, and yellow flowers. A sand hill crane sounded off, imitating an enraged pterodactyl. Even in late June, the hills sported spring green. At lunch, some two-plus hours into the ride, the acrid smell of horse sweat mingled with the sweet smell of carcoaled hamburgers. The tasty meat was courtesy of Charolais beef from Jody’s family, the DeBruycker’s, near Dutton. The husband-and-wife team started outfitting eight years ago and two years ago added guest ranching to the working-ranch operations.
Over lunch, a Billings teenager riding a gelding let out a squeal. “Doc just gave me a wet willy! Yuk! That’s disgusting,” she cried, smiling ear-to-ear. The horse had playfully licked her ear.

From far and wide-
  One Colorado couple had just returned from sheering sheep in Scotland when they spotted the Runamuk ad in Trail Rider Magazine. They hauled their horses up to Montana and marveled at the unspoiled “bill-board-free” spaces. Thorris Laynell Sandvick and Lynell Sandvick of Killdeer, N.D., drove over to ride and visit grandkids. Their son, Larry Sandvick, is a champion bareback rider living in Worden.
  Billings horseman Mike Stahly brought his two teenage sons and an exchange student from Germany on the ride. He rode both years along Goulding Creek and plans to go again in 2007. Mix in new country, a local charity, good meals and a dance, and Stahly said, “This is the best of all worlds. This was just gorgeous scenery both years and good times.”
  Riders are advised to bring their best-trained horses, the ones that can handle the new sights and sounds. Still, two people headed home before Saturday’s ride started. “Every year there are people who don’t get to go on the ride because their horses are acting up,” Jody Dahl said.
At the tail end of the ride, a woman on a Palomino joined the saddle club. Hot and tired, the horse started hopping around, then bucking. Toby caught the horse a half-mile away and the rider hopped back on. The Sunday trail ride brought a taste of real West adventure. Riders split up into the slow and fast riders. After five miles of trotting and loping, Toby Dahl spotted smoke across the valley near Saturday’s lunch site. He and the other riders loped back to the ranch to fight the fire, apparently lightning-caused, which burned 30 acres before it was contained. “My husband and I spent the night out there and everything is fine now.” Jody said Monday. Even Spud Cremer helped out. He was one-handed shoveling at the fire,” Jody Dahl said. “He’s an amazing guy.”