Little Bitty Ranch a place for kids to connect with animals

To Susie Thompson, a ranch is not just a place to raise animals. It is a place where one is guaranteed unconditional love.

“No matter what you look like, and no matter what you’re doing, [the animals] are always happy to see you,” she says.

 Thompson, 55, is the owner and operator of the Little Bitty Ranch, Kalispell’s newly opened nonprofit educational petting zoo for children.

Named after both the size of its 80-by-100 foot riding arena and country music singer Alan Jackson’s 1996 hit song “Little Bitty,” it is a place for children to learn about and connect with animals — and produce what Thompson calls “those Norman Rockwell moments” in the process.

The ranch, which opened on May 15 and adjoins Thompson’s West Reserve trailer home, affords kids an opportunity she feels has become decreasingly available in the Flathead Valley.

Montana’s agriculture is what initially attracted Thompson to the area, but she says that over the years she has witnessed the development of more housing projects and a consequential decline in ranches, limiting children’s chances to meet and interact with animals.

The importance of the human-animal relationship is one of the many lessons Thompson learned from her grandmother as a young girl.

“[My grandmother] was ... who I wanted to be like,” she said. “She was very kindhearted, very great to the animals, [and] a very hard worker.”

Thompson spent many of her childhood summers at her grandmother’s 365-acre hay ranch in Cashmere, Wash., to escape her difficult home life.

“It was my sanctuary,” she says. “It was where I wanted to be all the time.”

Decades later, Thompson’s love for animals and children, coupled with a desire to establish the sort of public animal center the area lacked, has driven her to create a sanctuary of her own.

Each time she invited children from her church, the Aletheia Christian Fellowship in Kalispell, to her home, she would delight in seeing their excitement at getting to feed, groom and play with her animals. When they started inviting their friends, Thompson began to entertain the thought of opening up her home to the public.

She sought sponsorship by speaking at her church and at Rotary club meetings. It was at these meetings that she caught the attention of Flathead Living magazine, who subsequently featured her in a brief article and donated about $2,000 for signs for the ranch.

Thompson relies almost entirely on donations to keep the Little Bitty Ranch running — and it has worked remarkably well.

“The community has really pitched in and has been really excited about this whole thing,” she says.

Besides Flathead Living, Thompson’s church, and Flathead Roofing, which her husband owns, the ranch’s other sponsors have included Cenex Harvest States in Kalispell, Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply, Bitterroot Screen Printers in Kalispell, Ace Hardware, A-1 Landscaping and Nursery in Billings and Home Depot.

Entry to the Little Bitty Ranch is free, but a box is available just outside the gift shop for visitors to place donations in if they wish. Kids and their families may also participate in an animal sponsorship program.

At the start of their visits, kids are given a short lesson followed by a quiz on proper behavior around the animals. Then they get to meet the animals, which include horses Star, Sonia, Stormy, Casey and Lizzie, miniature horses Barbie, Chuck and Cleopatra, goats Cheech and Chong, Jack the donkey, Gus the miniature Juliana pig and Tom the Turkey.

“They’re part of the family,” says Thompson’s husband, Dale, of the animals. “They give to us just as much as we give to them.”

 All have been either donated to Thompson or rescued by her from harm or abuse, and Thompson makes sure the kids learn each of their stories.

“Not only do I want them to be able to interact,” she said, “but if they’re interested, I want to make it educational also.”

The ranch also includes a playground, a sandbox and a hot dog stand. They kids can even play with Thompson’s black Labrador, Moose, and her rough coat Jack Russell terrier, Bugg-Bugg. And a visit is not complete, of course, without a pony ride.

“The kids have just taken to this place,” Thompson said. “It’s just been awesome.”

Thompson was never able to have children of her own, but she considers her opportunity to teach so many kids a blessing.

“I’ve become Mom to a lot of kids,” she says.

Among those who learn from her are her seven teenage volunteers. One of Thompson’s most rewarding moments came when one volunteer,15-year-old Lacey Schiele, wrote a recent homework assignment for Glacier High School that described Thompson as her role model.

The two met early last winter when Thompson, whose sister lives next door to Schiele, helped care for Schiele’s injured horse. The two soon became inseparable and now share a similar relationship to the one Thompson once shared with her grandmother.

“I’ve learned a lot by working with Susie,” Schiele said. “She teaches me ... every time I come here.”

Like Thompson, Schiele loves working with animals and with children, and calls the Little Bitty Ranch “the only place that it all kind of comes together.”

“If I won the lottery, I would stay right here,” Thompson said. “It’s just been a blessing. And when I look around and see the kids smiling and having so much fun, it’s just all worth it.”

The Little Bitty Ranch is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and will remain open through November. It is located at 95 W. Reserve Dr. in Kalispell. For more information, call 406-885-6441.