Urgent

On August 31 a wildfire started burning on the Small Ranch near the Flying X. It has been named the Poe Mountain fire. Watch this article for updates on the fire and progress fighting it as information becomes available. We will try to give daily updates in this article.

As with other local fires you can find periodic updates on the Wheatland radio station KZEW Blog.

Update September 2: The fire is contained at approximately 5000 acres. (This is an early estimate and will be revised when known). The fire blew up from 150 acres to a couple thousand very quickly. Ray and Michelle were prepared to evacuate, but fortunately did not have to.

The Flying X and our partners were once again crucial in fighting this fire and feeding the fire crews. Thom Yaras cooked any food he could find to feed the firefighters and Jim and Joyce Bradney delivered food and water to the crews. Eric worked the fire, Tom kept communications up and timely among the volunteers, Gina and her crew kept ready to move our horse herd as needed. In times like these everyone needs to step up to help or to do the work of two since others are on the fire in some way and our staff was great.

Thanks to all who volunteered!

August 24, 2011: There are no expected further delays as a result of the Squaw Mountain fire. This article remains for historic refernce only.

On August 21 a wildfire started burning east of the ranch near Tunnel Road. Watch this article for updates on the fire and progress fighting it as information becomes available. The fire has been named the "Squaw Mountain" fire. Regular incident reports are posted on the National Interagency Fire Center (scroll to the bottom of the page) and we will try to give you daily updates in this article. You may also find reporting and photographs posted on the blog of neighbor, Leah Yetter. You can also find periodic updates on the Wheatland radio station KZEW Blog. The Wheatland Country Store is accepting donations of food and water to support the firefighters. You can drop off items at the store.

August 27, 2011: This fire was contained at 14,485 acres. All FXR personnel and their families are off the fire.

-- Thanks to all our reporters: Tom Massie, Michelle and Ray Parker, Cindy Schultz, Carolyn Thomas, and Thom Yaras and the good folks at KZEW and the Wheatland Country Store.

Special thanks to all those who are fighting this fire! (which includes FXR's Ray Parker and Chuck Schneck and Ray and Michelle's two sons)

UPDATE: June 6, 2011. The quarantine has been lifted under strict adherence to a new transportation policy that will remain in effect until further notice. The new policy is described in this article: Procedure for Transporting Horses onto Ranch Property During the EHV-1 Outbreak June 2011

UPDATE: June 6, 2011. The quarantine has been lifted under strict adherence to a new transportation policy that will remain in effect until further notice. The new policy is described in this article: Procedure for Transporting Horses onto Ranch Property During the EHV-1 Outbreak June 2011

For the horse owners amongst us strangles is no stranger.  Strangles is a highly contagious and serious infection in horses caused by the bacterium, streptococcus equi.   Horses of all ages are susceptible, but the disease is most common in animals less than 5 years.

Due to the heavy snowfall this winter coupled with a wet spring, we have had road and culvert washouts with water springs coming up in unexpected areas on the ranch.

Many ranch roads at this time are in poor condition, Cottonwood road in particular, to the point that we cannot get heavy equipment close to the most affected areas. For these reasons Cottonwood road is closed and will be closed through the July 4th holiday. However, Cottonwood is great on horseback or for walking and you’ll see nature’s influence.

Management regrets this decision but in the interests of safety, damage to vehicles and further road degradation, we are left with no alternative.

I thank you all for your understanding.

John Rayne
President
Flying X Ranch