From NYC To Montana: The Life Of A Wrangler At Paws Up

Set on 37,000 picturesque acres in Montana, The Resort at Paws Up is considered to be America's luxury ranch resort. The equestrian experience at Paws Up allows guests to fully immerse themselves in the Western lifestyle. The wranglers add to the memorable experience for guests. Besides their numerous important daily tasks, they're responsible for taking guests on trips on horseback around the property.

We had the pleasure of visiting Paws Up a few weeks ago to gather content for an upcoming issue – which we are so excited to share with you soon! During our stay, we were treated to one heck of a trail ride led by wrangler Zoe Fintz. The majestic views and enthralling conversation is something we will never forget.

We learned about Zoe's upbringing in New York City, proving that cowgirls can really come from anywhere.

As a child in Midtown Manhattan, she was always obsessed with animals. "I was one of those weird animal kids," she says with a laugh. "When I was five years old, my parents got sick of hearing me talk about it. My dad knew a guy who worked at Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in Brooklyn, and they brought me by just to see the horses. They were like, "You know, she could take a lesson. She's five, she's old enough." And apparently my eyes bugged out of my head."

She took her first riding lesson, and the rest is history.  After riding there for a few years, she took some time off. A volunteer opportunity at a barn called Kensington Stables just outside Prospect Park reeled her back in. Once she was old enough to work, she worked there until she was 19 before making the move across the country to Missoula, Montana.

The move was a welcomed change. While she had never been West of Pennsylvania before, she transferred to the University of Montana and got a wrangler job at Paws Up about a year later. Of her decision to move, Zoe says, "It was the closest thing to the opposite of New York that I could think of at the time. I thought about Colorado for a little bit. I like mountains, but then I was like, "Eh, there's a lot of people in Colorado. Montana sounds like Colorado, but less people. It was kind of random."

Her favorite part of being a wrangler is getting to ride almost every day for hours on end. She also really likes people and getting to interact with guests from different backgrounds. "It's really cool to meet all kinds of different people that I would never meet otherwise, from all over the country. I've had international guests from Germany, I've met a ton of people from all over the world that were super awesome and have impacted me in all kinds of ways that I never would've met them otherwise."