Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, is encouraging her husband to take a step back when it comes to working on the ranch.
In a recent post on her blog, The Pioneer Blog, the Food Network star opened up about how she feels watching her husband, Ladd Drummond, continue to work the fields on their ranch, explaining he had “a busy, slightly rough summer.”
“I think I say this ever year, but the work, the early mornings, the unrelenting grind, the exhaustion…it has been a little much,” she wrote.
She was quick to clarify later in the post that Ladd has not complained to her and these are all her own feelings, writing he would probably say, “It’s what he does and it’s part of life.”
Ree hopes her husband slows down a little, wondering how much longer he can keep up the manual labor. (Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Ladd worked as a rancher in Pawhuska, Oklahoma for most of his life, as he comes from a long line of cattle ranchers. He and Ree own and operate their own ranch, Drummond Ranch, where they live in a newly built house on the property.
“A couple of weeks ago, after watching him limp inside, covered in dust and blood after a particularly long day, I actually said the words, ‘I don’t think we can do this anymore,'” she wrote. “It was partly in jest, but also maybe a little bit not. How much harder can you work, how much longer can you do this, are you okay, is what I was really thinking.”
Ree’s concerns about Ladd overworking himself come three years after he was involved in a car accident with his nephew Caleb when they were out trying to put out a wildfire on the ranch.
“Ladd has had…a busy, slightly rough summer. I think I say this every year, but the work, the early mornings, the unrelenting grind, the exhaustion…it has been a little much.”
Despite Ladd refusing medical attention at the scene of the accident and instructing paramedics to assist his nephew rather than himself, choosing instead to drive himself to the hospital, his injuries turned out to be worse than he thought.
Ladd broke his neck in two places following a car accident on his ranch. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Pioneer Woman Magazine)
“[Ladd] broke his neck in two places—and evidently one of the two fractures was very close to being catastrophic,” Lee wrote in a March 2021 blog post. “Have I mentioned cowboys don’t like to admit when they’re hurt? Ladd was transferred to Tulsa and had surgery to stabilize one of the fractures. Thanks to some rods and other hardware (and an amazing neurosurgeon named Dr. Kalani), it’s fixed now and that danger is over.”
A few weeks later, Ree posted a photo of her husband riding a horse on Instagram, letting fans know “Ladd and Caleb are healing up after their accident on the ranch.”
The couple share five children together: Alex, 27, Paige, 24, Bryce, 21, Todd, 20, and Jamar, 21, who they began fostering in 2018. They recently celebrated their daughter Paige’s engagement in Dallas, Texas, with Ree detailing the party in her blog post, noting how great it was to see her husband enjoy a break from the hard work on the ranch.
“So to see him smiling and walking around and enjoying the celebration of his second child and the man she’s gonna marry…well, it made me feel a little better about things,” she said.
Ree and Ladd share five children together. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Pioneer Woman Magazine)