Marijn & Peter De Cabooter

In 2006, Peter De Cabooter, a Belgian native born in the Congo (Africa) and nephew of Paula Flitner, one of the owners and founders of The Hideout, and his wife Marijn Werquin took over the management and leadership reins of The Hideout Lodge & Guest Ranch. Together, with their two twin sons Edward and Victor, they moved over from Brussels, Belgium to Shell, Wyoming.

Over the last four years they kept the working cattle ranch experience but brought in Stockman ship guru Bud Williams, to train the staff in the art of low stress stockmanship. The idea was that our wranglers would take this information to train The Hideout guests in doing the right job on the range when they ride out to work Greg & Pam’s or some of our neighbors cattle. This has worked out wonderfully.

Peter and Marijn also added a much stronger focus on the quality of horse, riding and horsemanship culture. Better quality horses were added, a focus on real horsemanship, clinics and classes and a full time trainer joined the team. Some of the rougher style cowboy approach to horses and livestock was replaced by Buckaroo and soft hand True Western and Authentic horsemanship in sync with the old time ethics and ways of handling animals. Today’s seasonal wranglers are required to have solid horsemanship and a consistent approach to the above culture. Being a Cowboy, a bareback rodeo rider, being from the West or having a ranch background helps, but is by no means a guarantee and no longer enough, to meet the standards of this team.

Peter and Marijn introduced The Hideout Culture of The 3 C’s, Character, Conduct and Competence, knowing that one can train for Competence, but not for the Character and Conduct. The 3 C’s are a concept that was developed by the Global Leadership Team at Bandag Inc, where Peter worked prior to moving to Wyoming. They also added The Code of The West (Jim Owen) to our culture long before it was adopted and signed in to legislation as The Code of Wyoming by the Wyoming Governor.

In doing the above The Hideout Team aims to bring The Hideout to the next level honoring Paula and David who started The Hideout. It is our vision and goal that The Hideout will continue to evolve in such a way that leads to great service for our guests and responsible stewardship of the land and Western culture.