the irishman

The Irishman was a man after my own heart.

He was 28. He has always loved everything country. He finally decided it was time to give it a try. And when he went home, he still had no clue what he was going to do with his life.

It's really comforting to know there are other people like you.

The Irishman was an intern here, which means he basically worked for his room and board and got experience in exchange. Except that he didn't really like the same old boring rides where you have to walk with guests who don't know how to ride. So I'm not sure how much riding he did.

Until, of course, he had a nice cowgirl to take him out on more interesting rides...

I have to say, the Irishman was always a good sport. Up for a bit of a crack, as he would say.

Here, he and Dizzy are riding "Speedy" for arena games on Saturday morning. Of course, "Speedy" is our fastest horse, so they had to make sure they were wearing helmets!

He even made us play soccer in the arena. Not too many of us were really soccer players...

But above all, he LOVES country music. Cheyenne Frontier Days might have been the epitome of country life to him.

He begged me to take him to Cheyenne for a George Strait concert. So we went up there without tickets, found a scalper, and that might have made him the happiest man alive. He was grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

The whole night he kept saying, "I can't believe I'm in Cheyenne! I can't believe I'm going to see George Strait! Don't you know that all the country songs are about Cheyenne? And I'm actually here!"

Although, I think the beer man might have made him even happier. He is Irish after all!

Here's one more fun little tidbit about the Irishman.

He used to model.

Can't you tell?

As I drove him down to Ft. Collins one final time, I asked him what he thought he might do when he got back to Ireland.

He thought he might try to get a visa and move to Georgia.

Hmmm...try and figure that one out!