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Home on the Range: Woman's Montana dream
evolves into real-life love The Gazette Staff
It's true what they say: Reading a book can change your life.In Elaine Schwend's case, it was Nicholas Evans' "The Horse Whisperer," set on a Montana ranch overlooking the Clarks Fork River. Reading the book 10 years ago set in motion a chain of events that resulted in the Scottish woman's marriage to a fifth-generation Montana rancher."That's what led me to Montana," she said of the novel. "Nicholas Evans has got a lot to answer for."Elaine is from Gordon, a tiny village in an area of Scotland known as the Borders, a land of rolling, heather-covered hills just south of Edinburgh. She grew up riding horses at her aunt's horse-racing yard, which was also in the Borders.
Evans' novel made Elaine want to ride a horse in the wide-open spaces of Montana, and when her father died shortly after she finished reading the book, Elaine thought the time was ripe. It was a stressful time, what with having to attend to family business while working full time and completing some college finals. "I just decided I needed a timeout, time to get away," she said. Her travel agent had a surprise for her. She told Elaine that she could do better than merely book her a spell on a Montana ranch. She told her there was a particular ranch in southwestern Montana where Evans had spent a week doing research for the book that would become "The Horse Whisperer."It was the Lonesome Spur Guest Ranch a few miles south of Bridger, owned by Lonnie Schwend, whom Evans thanks in the foreword to his novel. Elaine went for a weeklong holiday and fell in love with the Clarks Fork Valley. What she really liked about the Lonesome Spur was that it was not a dude ranch. It was a working ranch where guests got to take part in moving cattle, branding, calving, foaling and other chores."It was not in a tourist area," Elaine said. "It was just real life." She liked it so much that she returned the next year with her husband and two sons. The whole family was so taken with Montana that they bought 16 acres of land near the Lonesome Spur and built what was going to be their "holiday house."Elaine, a mental health assessor, was able to save up a lot of vacation time, which meant she and her sons could come to Montana for trips as long as three to five weeks, and they came at least once a year. By the time she returned in May 2004, however, she had separated from her husband, and by then Lonnie was also separated from his wife.Elaine had come to Montana for three months that year to think about what she was going to do with the rest of her life. She and Lonnie, who had become her good friend over the years, grew closer during those months, until, to their surprise, they realized there was something else between them. They started going out as a couple."Which is really weird, to be dating a really, really good friend," she said. "It's a whole different gambit, isn't it?" When Elaine went back to Scotland, she had company. Lonnie's sister, Michelle, and several of Michelle's friends flew back with her to see Scotland. Toward the end of their trip, Elaine heard from Lonnie. "He called me from Montana and told me maybe I should just come back with the girls," she said.Elaine missed Lonnie, but she wanted time to think. After another long conversation, she said, "we decided I should come back, and that was that."They were married, on horseback, on July 14, 2005, on the George and Nelvette Siemion ranch in the Bighorn Mountains. The ceremony was attended by only a handful of close friends and family, after which Elaine and Lonnie spent the day quietly together. Things were a little more lively the next day, when 300 guests came to the Lonesome Spur for a party that featured square dancing. Elaine said her marriage to a rancher halfway around the world came as a shock to some people."When I told my mother I was going to marry a cowboy, there was a big silence on the other end of the phone. But she's getting used to Lonnie," she said. A year and a half later, Elaine is settled into her new life as a ranch wife. One big change was in her wardrobe. When she went back to Scotland for her belongings, she said, a lot of her clothes, including a ball dress, "went to the charity shop." During this winter's cold snap, she said, "I discovered insulated pants."She still can't bear the sight of rattlesnakes and she has plenty to learn about roping cows. She laments the difficulty of raising a garden - what the heat doesn't kill the deer eat, she said - but after all the rain in her native country she loves the high, dry climate. And as Lonnie, sitting behind the wheel of his pickup, pointed out with a slight grimace, "she still calls this a car."There have been other adjustments. "I sometimes find a calf in my bathtub," she said. "It's a bit of a surprise in the morning." Also, Elaine conceded, "I'm a little wobbly about the pig." Each year, the family raises one pig "for the freezer," and since she's the one who feeds the pig every day, she tends to grow attached to it and feels a considerable pang when it is slaughtered."But that's ranch life," she said bravely. "I'm getting used to it." She certainly doesn't lack for cosmopolitan company. Visitors to the Lonesome Spur Guest Ranch - which Lonnie said he started in 1993 to give his college-age children summer employment - come from all over the world. It's safe to say that guests calling to book a vacation for the first time don't expect to hear Elaine's lilting Scottish accent."Sometimes I think they're a bit surprised when I answer the phone," she said. "It takes them just a few seconds to recover." Elaine's 18-year-old son, Bruce, is living on the ranch and attending the Montana State University-Billings College of Technology. He commutes to Billings with a couple of other ranch kids from the Clarks Fork Valley who also go to school there. Her other son, 21-year-old Andrew, still lives in Scotland and is planning to visit in July.Lonnie is a former rodeo cowboy, a bareback and bull-riding champ on the NRA circuit. He turns 59 in a few days, but he looks as though he could still wrestle a steer without too much trouble. Elaine, 45, is also fit, and she looks as comfortable on a horse as Lonnie does. She is still amazed at her good fortune. "To come out here and be on the ranch all day every day is just wonderful - and to have somebody to share it with," she said. She was asked if her husband is a horse whisperer. "No," she said. "Lonnie is a cowboy. I think it's safe to say he's a cowboy."
It's true what they say: Reading a book can change your life.In Elaine Schwend's case, it was Nicholas Evans' "The Horse Whisperer," set on a Montana ranch overlooking the Clarks Fork River. Reading the book 10 years ago set in motion a chain of events that resulted in the Scottish woman's marriage to a fifth-generation Montana rancher."That's what led me to Montana," she said of the novel. "Nicholas Evans has got a lot to answer for."Elaine is from Gordon, a tiny village in an area of Scotland known as the Borders, a land of rolling, heather-covered hills just south of Edinburgh. She grew up riding horses at her aunt's horse-racing yard, which was also in the Borders.
Evans' novel made Elaine want to ride a horse in the wide-open spaces of Montana, and when her father died shortly after she finished reading the book, Elaine thought the time was ripe. It was a stressful time, what with having to attend to family business while working full time and completing some college finals. "I just decided I needed a timeout, time to get away," she said. Her travel agent had a surprise for her. She told Elaine that she could do better than merely book her a spell on a Montana ranch. She told her there was a particular ranch in southwestern Montana where Evans had spent a week doing research for the book that would become "The Horse Whisperer."It was the Lonesome Spur Guest Ranch a few miles south of Bridger, owned by Lonnie Schwend, whom Evans thanks in the foreword to his novel. Elaine went for a weeklong holiday and fell in love with the Clarks Fork Valley. What she really liked about the Lonesome Spur was that it was not a dude ranch. It was a working ranch where guests got to take part in moving cattle, branding, calving, foaling and other chores."It was not in a tourist area," Elaine said. "It was just real life." She liked it so much that she returned the next year with her husband and two sons. The whole family was so taken with Montana that they bought 16 acres of land near the Lonesome Spur and built what was going to be their "holiday house."Elaine, a mental health assessor, was able to save up a lot of vacation time, which meant she and her sons could come to Montana for trips as long as three to five weeks, and they came at least once a year. By the time she returned in May 2004, however, she had separated from her husband, and by then Lonnie was also separated from his wife.Elaine had come to Montana for three months that year to think about what she was going to do with the rest of her life. She and Lonnie, who had become her good friend over the years, grew closer during those months, until, to their surprise, they realized there was something else between them. They started going out as a couple."Which is really weird, to be dating a really, really good friend," she said. "It's a whole different gambit, isn't it?" When Elaine went back to Scotland, she had company. Lonnie's sister, Michelle, and several of Michelle's friends flew back with her to see Scotland. Toward the end of their trip, Elaine heard from Lonnie. "He called me from Montana and told me maybe I should just come back with the girls," she said.Elaine missed Lonnie, but she wanted time to think. After another long conversation, she said, "we decided I should come back, and that was that."They were married, on horseback, on July 14, 2005, on the George and Nelvette Siemion ranch in the Bighorn Mountains. The ceremony was attended by only a handful of close friends and family, after which Elaine and Lonnie spent the day quietly together. Things were a little more lively the next day, when 300 guests came to the Lonesome Spur for a party that featured square dancing. Elaine said her marriage to a rancher halfway around the world came as a shock to some people."When I told my mother I was going to marry a cowboy, there was a big silence on the other end of the phone. But she's getting used to Lonnie," she said. A year and a half later, Elaine is settled into her new life as a ranch wife. One big change was in her wardrobe. When she went back to Scotland for her belongings, she said, a lot of her clothes, including a ball dress, "went to the charity shop." During this winter's cold snap, she said, "I discovered insulated pants."She still can't bear the sight of rattlesnakes and she has plenty to learn about roping cows. She laments the difficulty of raising a garden - what the heat doesn't kill the deer eat, she said - but after all the rain in her native country she loves the high, dry climate. And as Lonnie, sitting behind the wheel of his pickup, pointed out with a slight grimace, "she still calls this a car."There have been other adjustments. "I sometimes find a calf in my bathtub," she said. "It's a bit of a surprise in the morning." Also, Elaine conceded, "I'm a little wobbly about the pig." Each year, the family raises one pig "for the freezer," and since she's the one who feeds the pig every day, she tends to grow attached to it and feels a considerable pang when it is slaughtered."But that's ranch life," she said bravely. "I'm getting used to it." She certainly doesn't lack for cosmopolitan company. Visitors to the Lonesome Spur Guest Ranch - which Lonnie said he started in 1993 to give his college-age children summer employment - come from all over the world. It's safe to say that guests calling to book a vacation for the first time don't expect to hear Elaine's lilting Scottish accent."Sometimes I think they're a bit surprised when I answer the phone," she said. "It takes them just a few seconds to recover." Elaine's 18-year-old son, Bruce, is living on the ranch and attending the Montana State University-Billings College of Technology. He commutes to Billings with a couple of other ranch kids from the Clarks Fork Valley who also go to school there. Her other son, 21-year-old Andrew, still lives in Scotland and is planning to visit in July.Lonnie is a former rodeo cowboy, a bareback and bull-riding champ on the NRA circuit. He turns 59 in a few days, but he looks as though he could still wrestle a steer without too much trouble. Elaine, 45, is also fit, and she looks as comfortable on a horse as Lonnie does. She is still amazed at her good fortune. "To come out here and be on the ranch all day every day is just wonderful - and to have somebody to share it with," she said. She was asked if her husband is a horse whisperer. "No," she said. "Lonnie is a cowboy. I think it's safe to say he's a cowboy."
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