We discovered this guy roaming the desert around the ranch some years ago. He never had much to say but was always ready to lend a helping hand. He’d help out for a while then wander back off into the desert just as soon as the task was done, only to show up again when we needed a hand again. We’ve put up with his comins-n-goings for quite a few years now. When we found ourselves in need of filling a key spot here at the Ranch the Boss-lady’s brother—who’d long before be-friended him—suggested we bring on old Teo for a time to see what he could do. Little did we know Ted had been making a study of our operation for years.

Today he’s our General Manager. Old Teo, Ted, Hey You—he answers to just ‘bout anything we call him. He talks about living in west Texas from time to time, sometimes Houston and other times Reno. He’s just as happy tapping away at a computer terminal or mucking out a horse stall. We don’t mean to make it sound like our G.M. is a mystery to us—his Mama tells us everything—he’s just not much interested in talking about himself. Most often he’ll wrangle us into conversations about chickens, abandoned silver mines, old horses, blind dogs, and jackalopes. His wife tells us he likes to read romance novels, but we’re pretty sure it ain’t so.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Ranch Foreman Jim Shannon has been with SVR going on five years now and has become familiar with all aspects of Ranch Operations. The wide range of skills he acquired back east has served him well enough that we have almost forgiven his being a ‘Damn Yankee’. “ I got real tired of the cold,” he says. “Kept going west ‘till I thawed out, but I never thought I’d end up a cowboy, don’t know if my mother will ever forgive me.”

While others have come and gone, Jim persevered, outperforming or outlasting some of the wranglers (and at least one boss) that taught him the ropes when he first came to us. He definitely knows his s--- from his shinola. Now, we’re not sure what’s under that beard of his and not sure we want to, and he admits that he might not recognize his own self if he shaved it off. “Tried it once, “ says Jim, “scared the hell out of myself”. Good enough for us.

Jim is a regular fixture on our trail rides and is a veteran of many a corporate party as well as having been featured on a couple of TV shows and a music video filmed here at our beautiful ranch. He is also the man to beat in a quick draw competition, so don’t make him mad!

Shana Costello hails from right here in Sandy Valley. When we discovered all her talents, we immediately put her to work, and she’s never stopped. With a degree in business management, she keeps us all on track, and is a whiz at creating excel spread sheets and other handy office stuff--Uncle Teo doesn’t know what he’d do without her.

Handy as she is, her true love is horses and she does her best to spend some time with our magnificent steeds every day. She’s also the one you’ll hear from if you join us for our Gymkhanas, ACTHA trail rides, and other equine events. And, if you have a hankering to buy a souvenir or two, she’ll be happy to take your loot in our Cowboy Store.

Anyone who has read the history of Scotland knows that it is the Wild West of Europe! Robert and Margie came from Scotland to get married at Sandy Valley Ranch several years ago. Since then, they have been coming back to the ranch to lend a helping hand.

Margie uses her talents to head our international advertising and marketing efforts. She works directly with European travel agencies and individuals who are seeking a western adventure near Las Vegas.

Have you ever seen a buff Scotsman? Well, Robert is your guy. He helps at the ranch in every way possible; bailing hay, leading trail rides, maintaining the ranch, and so on. Now if we could only get him to play the bagpipes...

Grace-Elizabeth—better known to us as Grace E.—is a Las Vegas born city slicker who yearns to live the cowboy way. Daughter of our Ranch Manager and full-time student she comes out our way every week-end, holiday and any other time she can lash herself to the Ranch truck.

Grace E. is our exclusive trainer/rider of Rock-Star, our miniature horse and has taken to her new duties like a goat to a tin can—that is, when we can get her out the other horse’s stalls and separated from the new muck-rake the Boss-Lady recently gifted her. She tells us one day she’ll own a Ranch just like SVR and the way she’s going at it there’s not a ranch-hand in the entire valley that doubts her.

Although Scott has lived his whole life in the western United States, horses and ranches are new to him.

Scott has spent many years directing and managing the financial and technical affairs of businesses both large and small, but this is his first ranch.

"I've always had a love of finance and technology, but I honestly don't know how I figured a way to do both. I'm interested in anything with a dollar sign in front of it and am proud of my fluency in geek--go figure!"

Scott spends a lot of his free time with his wife (Julie) and their three kids (Heidi, Alison, and Dylan). He also enjoys playing the guitar and piano and "geeking out".