Taking a Horseback Ride on @bluemountainlife’s Cattle...

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Taking a Horseback Ride on @bluemountainlife’s Cattle Ranch

For more photos and videos of Melanie’s life on the ranch, follow @bluemountainlife on Instagram.

Melanie Hamblin (@bluemountainlife) shares images of her daily life on a ranch in Central Queensland, Australia, where more than 5,000 heads of cattle are bred surrounded by green hills and mountains. “My family started breeding wagyu cattle, a Japanese breed, about 14 years ago,” says the rancher and mother of four. Their cattle operation includes a biannual artificial insemination program, meticulous record keeping of the calves, mustering the cattle on horseback and an annual 9-mile (15-kilometer) walk of the cows between the family’s two properties. While Melanie admits that the work is extremely labor intensive, she still enjoys the rich natural environment as well as handling her horses every day — whether it’s for driving cattle or for campdrafting, a uniquely Australian horse sport. “People all over the world and from different cultural backgrounds seem to be drawn to the strength and beauty of horses,” she says. “There is nothing more relaxing than wandering around their paddocks with them early in the morning as the sun comes over the mountain.”

by via Instagram Blog