It’s well before sunup on a Sunday in late November, just outside the tiny hamlet of Glennville, California. Stars shine in the clear, cold sky of the Greenhorn Mountain foothills, here on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas, about an hour’s drive up a winding two-lane highway east of Bakersfield.

In the hazy overhead light piercing the darkness of a ranch corral, two young children are busy saddling their horses. Bundled up in a pink down jacket against the 29-degree chill, 8-year-old Paisley Carver holds the American Quarter Horse “Pickles” for her 9-year-old brother, Zayne, as he tightens his cinch.

The siblings are the seventh generation of Carvers to saddle up in the dark at a family ranch that dates back to the 1870s. Today, they’ll ride with other family members and friends on the annual Carver family cattle drive.

“I’ve been doing this twice a year since before I can remember,” says their dad, Joel Carver. “My dad used to bridle my horse. Now I bridle my kids’ horses.”

While they may need some help from dad, little Paisley and Zayne can do much of the rest of their own saddling themselves. Growing up cowboy, these kids are confident and accomplished riders, and they know how to handle cattle. They’ve already been doing this cattle drive for years and will be counted on again to do their part in this very important operation.

Their grandfather, Nathan Carver, steps out of the darkness leading his own saddled mount, as the family begins loading a pair of trailers. Soon, two pickups hauling horses roll out of ranch headquarters and head down California Highway 155 to begin the third and final day of their 25-mile cattle drive.

Nathan runs more than 250 cow-calf pairs, although there are just 160 pairs on this drive. The cattle spend the summer on his national forest grazing permit in the mountains above Glennville. Every November since 1947, the Carver family has driven their herd 25 miles to their winter pasture, which lies at a lower and warmer elevation.

Dawn is breaking as our pickups pull up at the roadside corral where the herd has spent its second night on the trail. With boosts into the saddle from dad, Paisley and Zayne are soon horseback and pushing the herd out the corral gate. Nathan and Joel quickly join them and, within minutes, the family has the herd headed down the asphalt trail.

We’re joined by 17-year-old friend and neighbor Clara Anthony, an accomplished cowgirl from a neighboring ranch family. Her grandfather raises American Quarter Horses, and Clara is riding one of them. Sporting what must be one of her many rodeo trophy buckles, the young woman will have a rope in her hands for much of the day.

“I compete … team rope,” she tells me as she rides behind the herd. “This is really good practice for branding season.”

Young Zayne is working on his roping, too, with dad coaching. It’s not an easy skill to master.

“It takes a lot of practice,” Joel says. “Spend all day with a rope in your hand.”

And roping is a necessary skill in this ranching family.

“This is a good time for him to practice his heeling,” Joel says. “These kids gotta learn how to rope someday!”

Paisley is working on her roping, too, and she ropes and dallies a calf. It’s a little tough when you’re just 8, but she gets it done. Much is expected of the Carver kids, and they don’t disappoint. Paisley is a force to be reckoned with at local barrel races, and Zayne is a regular winner at horse shows.

While the kids are expected to pull their weight on this drive, it’s clear that spending the day horseback with their family is fun, too.

What’s fun about it? “Everything!” Zayne says.

Their mother, Shana, a riding instructor, joins us when we stop for breakfast, along with the family’s third future rodeo star, 2-year-old Quincy. This little girl, still learning to talk, already knows how to ride and today is on a horse led by her mom.

“If I could have brought her horse, she’d have ridden (on the drive) this year,” Shana says. “He’s older, and the pavement is hard on him.”

“Next year,” Shana declares, “she’ll be riding down the road.”

Quincy’s cousin, Haddie, is horseback, as well, taking a turn on Paisley’s horse, as she pushes cows on foot for a while. Haddie is the daughter of Nathan’s daughter, Esther, who’s driving the truck and trailer out in front of the drive.

“Sometimes it’s the truck, sometimes I ride,” says Esther, who’ll be horseback later in the day. “Yesterday, I traded with Joel, and he took care of the kids.”

Altogether, Nathan has six grandchildren on this cattle drive. And all who can are helping push the cattle, both horseback and on foot. It’s the same way Esther and Joel grew up.

“Since I was little, I remember Dad and us kids getting on horses, all bundled up and not able to move,” Esther says.

It doesn’t snow much in this part of California, but November can be wet and cold.

“Rain all day is the worst,” Esther says. “You can’t stop. You’re just wet and miserable all day.”

The weather today is almost too nice. Once the sun came up in the cloudless sky, we peeled off layers as the temperature warmed into the 60s. But that heat is hard on the cattle, who move better when it’s cool or even wet.

“They’re tired this afternoon,” Joel says as the drive wears on. “It’s way too hot for wintertime.”

The Carvers start before sunrise because the day’s work will last until sunset. On this drive, with young calves just a couple of months old, you have to push the herd every step of the way. At times, Nathan and Joel get off and walk.

But they ride some fine horses. Joel and Shana own Carver Performance Horses, raising, selling and training American Quarter Horses. Their registered horses on this drive include RCY Hollywood Header, Remedys Poco Badger and Reminics Peppy Star.

“Quarter Horses are real versatile,” Joel says. “They have a good mind and will definitely watch a cow.”

While today’s drive of about 10 miles is on or along the pavement, there’s almost no traffic on this Sunday. And the rare car or pickup truck that does pass by on Highway 155 often belongs to a friend.

“Betsy! Good to see you,” Nathan calls out to a passing neighbor.

“We just did our drive a couple of weeks ago,” the fellow rancher says with a friendly wave as she drives away.

This is a different California than the one you find in Los Angeles, less than three hours south. Nathan’s ancestors came west by wagon train in the Gold Rush days, settled here in the late 1800s, and the Carvers have been raising cattle in this country ever since.

But the annual cattle drive is no picnic.

“It’s a very big challenge to take 160 pair and drive them 25 miles and get them all there safely,” Nathan says.

And this adventure is not generally open to guests.

“I have (taken guests) in the past,” Nathan says, “but this is a very stressful time, and it just adds more stress. They’d have to pay a whole lot to make it worth it!”

The corrals finally come into sight, as horses on a neighboring place gallop up to see what’s happening. It’s a beautiful sight.

And it’s a beautiful sight for Nathan when the cows are finally off the highway, into the pasture, and the drive is done. There’s still another hour or more of sorting to do. And the sunset provides perfect light for photographs by the time we finish.

“Now we’re all done,” Nathan says, as the sky dims and the temperature drops. “It feels really good.”

“At the end of the day, you know you’ve accomplished something,” Esther says.

The Carvers have accomplished a lot since that wagon train came west all those years ago. From the looks of Paisley and Zayne, their parents, cousins and the rest of the Carvers, the family’s cowboy traditions will be in good hands – and well mounted – for generations to come.