Author and wrangler Ami Cullen finds herself in ranch life
By Kastle Waserman
Photos Courtesy of Ami Cullen
The last person who would’ve imagined that city girl and East Coast lawyer Ami Cullen would end up on a dude ranch in Colorado is Cullen herself. When a girlfriend invited her on a vacation riding horses out west, her first thought was, “Can’t we go to the beach?”
Cullen says she prided herself on doing all the right things growing up, getting good grades, attending law school, starting a law practice, making six figures and riding equestrian hunter/jumper horses on the side. But when she landed at the C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, she says, “My mind was blown!”
Cullen began return trips every year, joking that she wanted to become a wrangler. She eventually got licensed to practice law in Colorado, set up remote work for her firm, and started taking sabbaticals for several summers to be a seasonal wrangler on the ranch, which ultimately led to her being hired as ranch operations manager in 2012. She worked her way up to director of equestrian and member relations and, with that, found happiness she had never experienced before.
“As an attorney, I felt like I was just going through the motions. I could do the work, but I didn’t have passion for it,” she explains. “I have so much passion for what I do now on the ranch. It’s brought out leadership qualities in me that I probably never would’ve found had I stayed on my initial path.”
Little did she know, a few years later, those leadership skills would be put to the test. The East Troublesome Wildfire broke out near the ranch in October 2020. With strong winds blowing, it didn’t take long for the flames to start closing in, meaning the ranch’s 200 horses needed to be evacuated—fast.
“I’d never been in that type of situation,” recalls Cullen. “I was thinking there are people better qualified than me to organize this giant operation.” But she credits her 10 years of experience on the ranch for giving her the confidence and knowledge to start delegating tasks and putting the word out that the ranch needed help. She credits social media for reaching people with trailers who began turning up to take the horses to safety.
“If the fire had been 15 years ago, I don’t think we would’ve been able to communicate out the way we did,” says Cullen. “The community really came together.”
But there was a point when Cullen wasn’t sure if they could get all the horses out. “We were waiting on trailers; the winds were crazy, and flames were coming over the ridge. I started picking the horses that would go first. It was very emotional. People were crying,” she recalled, saying there was a moment when she had to step away to collect herself so she could keep face for her team. “My husband had to pull me aside. He said, ‘When the fire chief makes the call, we have to go—it’s no longer safe.’ We knew we’d have to just cut the fence and hope for the best.”
Thankfully, the winds shifted, and Cullen, her team and all the horses made it out of the fire, which burned down the C Lazy U’s historic barn, a guest cabin and staff housing. The ranch is back in business, though it is still in the process of rebuilding. Cullen says she didn’t want what happened to get lost in time and wrote a book based on her experience called “Running Free.”
“I wanted to write everything down. Twenty-twenty was a volatile year with the pandemic and the election. People didn’t really like each other,” she recalls. “But all that was forgotten in those moments. It was so special to me to witness the way people came together to help.”
While the wildfire was a horrific experience, Cullen says finding what makes her happy professionally helped her through it: “You figure out who you are in those moments.”
Find “Running Free: An Incredible Story of Love, Survival, and How 200 Horses Trapped in a Wildfire Helped One Woman Find Her Soul” on amazon.com.
C Lazy U Ranch
clazyu.com
