Your Incredible Neighbors: A REAL COWGIRL Wrangler holds on to heritage

The remnants of a time vanishing in the dust with encroaching development are written into “Kattle Kate” Ladson’s compelling face.

The only female featured in “Cowboys of Santa Cruz County,” a book published by Dodie and Carter Allen, Ladson at 57 is still devoting her life to horses and those who love them, while having attained status in these parts as a respected hand and horsewoman.

“I don’t remember not riding,” said the North Carolina native, who left after graduation from a Mississippi boarding school to make her life in the Old West landscape of her little girl dreams.

Her father, an Episcopalian minister and private school headmaster, encouraged her on horseback as a toddler, and once she saw her first Western on the big screen, she knew she had to be here.

She hitched a ride with a high school friend whose father was an officer at Fort Huachuca, and continued to hitch all over the West, up and down the coast of California in the free-spirited sixties till she settled in to work a cattle ranch north of Benson, 60 miles from the nearest phone.

Ladson defined roping, branding, breeding, and cutting skills for herself, eventually combining some bartending with taking care of small ranches all over Southeast Arizona till she landed a job managing the historic Vera Earl Ranch near Sonoita in 1980.

Nineteen years later. she started her own trail business, attracting American and European tourists who sought, like she has, a chance to experience a piece of history and the indescribable Old West charm that is rapidly disappearing here.

As she led them on horseback through the canyons, along deserted ranch roads, through washes into the mountains, she tried to pass along her reverence for the land and the spiritual beauty of the animal that has always been such a vital part of it.

“The world is more beautiful on the back of the horse,” she often says, her classic beauty belying that tough American cowhand character carved out through years in the saddle.

Hooking up with Mike Beck, who worked with the legendary Tom Dorrance, she became interested in doing clinics on virtually everything about the animal, moving on with him to instruct at Stoney Ford, a corporate retreat in Northern California, for a time, then onto a big guest ranch in Durango, Colorado, as their head wrangler.

Ladson led long pack trips into the mountains there as well, and transporting 87 horses back to Arizona for the winter months prompted her to return, where she now directs her own Western adventures from her base in Tubac for anyone with some experience who wants to explore historic scenic rides, cattle drives, retreats, cookouts, or “just time with your favorite equine pal,” as she put it.

She has introduced ailing youngsters to horses through Make a Wish Foundation, and has always been generous with her time and expertise whenever it involved a chance to help preserve pristine wilderness in Southern Arizona.

Still instructing individuals and groups in clinics and private lessons, Ladson tries to create unity between the horse and rider, while providing an unforgettable guided riding experience through real Old West settings that may one day be gone forever.

Interested horse lovers with some experience can find out more about “saddling up for a real Western adventure” by phoning her directly at (520) 398-9822 or (520) 490-9837.

Kattle Kate picked up the name of a notorious woman hung for cattle rustling when, as a young cowhand, she took in and cared for the orphaned calf of an unbranded cow.

A lifetime of driving, branding, and managing cattle, and cutting, training, breeding, showing, and riding horses has earned this grandmother of three a reputation around the country among horse people as one of the real experts with these magnificent creatures.

Featured in American Cowboy magazine a few years ago, Ladson has worked with some of the top trainers around the country.

There’s no computer or TV or other things the rest of us take for granted in her house on the Tubac ranch where she works and trains her animals.

“My day starts with feeding them. I don’t eat until they do,” she said, describing what she believes is a good day every day…never a minute of boredom.

If she isn’t with them, she’s reading about them or watching them from her back porch.

“All I know is horses. The horse has been my medium,” she said.

“I’m very fortunate to have lived this life and to have earned the right to be considered a respected hand.”

She trains without fear or force, and still derives great joy from witnessing her guidance in their transformation into “better, happier animals.”

“You have to learn to listen. I learn something different from them every day.”

Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer.