Home on the Range

Cate Keogh was 14 when she first started taking the bus with some girlfriends to Deep Hollow Ranch to ride horses. Born and raised in Montauk, she was soon employed there and eventually joined the hands who took guests out on trail rides. Her ultimate goal was to buy a horse of her own.

“It was very enjoyable because I loved all those horses, of course,” she said.

It’s also where she met her future husband, Patrick, and they married on the ranch.

When the Leavers — who were operating the ranch by this time as the first concessionaires after the county purchased the land in 1971 — decided to retire after 25 years operating the ranch, they contacted the Keoghs and asked if they would be interested in purchasing the herd of horses. They worked together to transfer the concession (the leasing of the riding operation) to the Keoghs.

Keogh, a landscape designer, and her husband, who is a builder, didn’t want to see it fall into the wrong hands, so she stepped away from her business and took over the ranch operations in 2009. Her husband who stuck with his day job to help pay the bills still helped at the ranch. Originally from Colorado and a former rodeo rider, he brought with him a lot of knowledge about vetting and blacksmithing, saving them a lot of money when starting this labor of love.

“It was a lot of hard work. We had 56 horses for a long time. Now, we’re down to 40. We had a lot of figuring out land management because there was so much pruning that needed doing every year and care of the horses and then staffing. And now it’s wonderful because I have my sons working there and my niece and nephew, who are amazing,” Keogh said.

In those first years taking over the ranch it was not uncommon to see Keogh carrying her infant son in a pack on her back.

“Navigating everything with family and then all of those horses was just crazy, but you know we made it through,” she added.

“One of the most rewarding things for me is the kids with the horses, not just my own family, but all of the other beautiful children that come and start out pony riding and then they go on that half hour and then the riding the hour and a half. And I actually have had kids come back with their kids, which is truly amazing. It’s just a lovely generational thing and we’re so lucky.”

— Kim Covell