From a ranch near Colorado Springs, reindeer are spreading joy
Dec. 25—PEYTON — It's early, the sun hardly up, but Beth Genz is ready to run. And so are Jingles and Mistletoe.
"Let's go, boys, let's go!" Genz says, as the reindeer trot with her and the raisins she carries, their favorite snack.
Use your imagination, and you might just see this ranch east of Colorado Springs as the North Pole. Use your imagination, and you might just see these dashing reindeer preparing for takeoff. (It's easier to imagine if they happen to be dashing through snow at their top speeds exceeding 40 mph.)
Jingles and Mistletoe were, indeed, cleared for takeoff before Christmas. This was per the tradition of the American Veterinary Medical Association, which this year picked the two brothers here at Hilltop Reindeer Ranch for the organization's annual "flight check."
"BREAKING NEWS," read this week's notice from the group, accompanying a promotional video from the ranch. "Dr. Lori Teller, president of the AVMA, recently flew to the North Pole and has approved Santa's reindeer for their Christmas Eve flight."
Genz and her partner, Kathy Winkler, aim to make Santa proud.
They are proprietors of the first-year Hilltop Reindeer Ranch, where operations are small compared with counterparts they count on two hands across Colorado. Not counting the six horses nearby, it's just Jingles and Mistletoe here — two 200-pound, 8-month-old creatures of Christmas legend whose fame quickly grew around the region this holiday.
Genz and Winkler have showed them around town for corporate, public and private events celebrating the season. This is common for reindeer owners everywhere — a way to make money back for costly, specialized feed and medical care.
"It's not about the money," Winkler says. "It's about bringing a sense of joy to the community."
And, she and Genz say, a sense of joy to themselves.
That's on full display this morning at the ranch, where Genz seems to abandon pain in her foot from a bad case of plantar fasciitis. She runs with the reindeer, smiling as it seems Jingles and Mistletoe are, their pink tongues showing, big eyes sparkling. The sky, like the surrounding land, stretches far and wide, and it's as if the three of them could fly into it.
"I feel like a little kid around them," Genz says.
That's been the feeling lately at the ranch, where Genz and Winkler have lived for four years, for as long as they've been married. They met at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, where Genz has long worked out of her lifelong love for animals. It's a love shared by Winkler, who manages a vet clinic.
They always wanted to have land and horses. But reindeer? It seemed to be a wild idea by Genz, as wild as the animals' mythic lore and native Arctic Circle. Then they got to researching.
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It's believed reindeer have been domesticated for thousands of years; the national Reindeer Owners and Breeders Association cites a ninth-century letter from Norway's King Ottar referencing his proud herd. Their long history with people includes their service during World War II, when they were relied upon to carry supplies from a Russian port over a long, snowy route covered by their broad hooves.
Today, by that national association's description, "farm-raised reindeer are curious, friendly, likable animals." That's what Genz and Winkler learned on a visit to a reindeer farm in northern Colorado, where they took their questions about rules and regulations along with costs for care and the Christmas business.
They waited their turn from a breeder in Washington state. When Jingles and Mistletoe came, "I expected more shyness at first," Genz says. "It didn't take any time at all for them to be like, OK, we'll trust you."
They look like deer — they are of the same family — but they act more like cattle, Genz has found. Fun-loving cattle, she says: "Like having a puppy and a cow in one animal. They are playful, joyful animals."
They are the center of attention at special events. "It's the collective 'ooh' and 'aah' they bring," Winkler says.
It's the kid she recalls bringing his face close to Jingles and Mistletoe. The little boy's whisper was just loud enough to hear: "Are you magic?"
Their magic has been particularly strong on Genz. Her initial desire for reindeer went deeper than just her love for animals.
"I'd been missing that Christmas spirit and the good feelings that came with it for a long time," she says.
That went missing after 2010, when her mom died of cancer. She was always the one lifting spirits, "a crazy decorator," Genz says, spreading cheer also with sweets and gifts.
In her absence, Genz struggled with Christmas. For years, she didn't feel like putting up lights or a tree.
Not long after that tragedy in 2010, she met the person who would be her best friend. Winkler watched the struggle firsthand. And she's watched the change.
"All that childhood magic is back," she says.
It's back thanks to Jingles and Mistletoe.
Not long ago, the reindeer were on their way to an event in the trailer hauled by Genz and Winkler. Christmas music came on the radio.
"This is the first Christmas I've started listening to Christmas music in the car," Genz says.
And in a way like never before, she and Winkler sang along.
