The month of love seemed an appropriate time to write a history lesson about a heart that has flown around Drowsy Water Ranch for decades. The Flying Heart Brand is the brand associated with Drowsy Water Ranch from its early days as a dude ranch. The main lodge is called the Flying Heart Lodge and you’ll see throwbacks to the old brand hidden throughout the ranch.
The brand is a key part of Drowsy Water Ranch history. Ken get out the ranch history books so we could learn more.
Deane “Pops” Glessner, the founding father of the modern day Drowsy Water Ranch, owned the brand when he started DWR ranching operations in the 1930s and 1940s.
Glessner owned a herd of hereford cattle and used the flying heart for the cattle company brand. Early brochures and publications for the ranch show the flying heart as the brand for DWR’s prize winning herefords.
In that era, herefords were bred to be short, low-set, wide and deep.
To give you an idea of their size, see below the prized herefords stand next to your average sized man.
The scrapbook reflects the amount of pride DWR took in their herefords. The herd and bulls won awards and accolades all over the region.
Early DWR brochures state “Horses–our weakness, Cattle–our business”.
In addition to raising herefords, Mom and Pops Glessner raised saddlebred horses with the “quarter circle shield” brand. Their love for horses and the desire to share that love was what turned Drowsy Water into a successful dude ranch.
When Glessner sold the ranch to Cecile Malone, the flying heart brand stayed with the Glessner family but a lot of its magical charm remains throughout Drowsy Water Ranch.