Its a whole new year!

Congratulations to……
Jacalyn Larango on the purchase of Lolita. Jacalyn will spend this year hauling to shows and getting to know Lolita better. Aside from being a talented reiner she is also great on the trail, and she has already joined us on one camping adventure.

Martha Vargas on the purchase of Style N Shine (Shine On X Be Stylish With Me X Lean With Me) “Sheila” is a very talented mare and she and Martha will be slidin’ it up this year!

Marla and Georgia James on the lease of Okie Leo’s Rocket Dan, aka Rocket. Manuel trained Rocket and he has a special place in all our hearts, and our barn. Georgia already loves riding Rocket all over the ranch as he is so gentle and calm. Marla will try her luck at this years Willow Glen Series as we do our best to get her completely addicted to our sport!

The second week in Janurary Lori, Katie and Julie Jensen returned to Vern Whitaker Horse Camp in Borrego Springs. We had a great time last year and were very happy to return this year. We met with the same great group of ladies and had a fantastic trail ride with them on Saturday. Sunday before we left the three of us hit the trail by ourselves and spent most of the time picking out special pieces of driftwood for Lori, “I don’t know what I will do with them, but I NEED them!”

Julie and Tony The Tiger, right after he tried to take a little bath with Julie aboard!

Julie, Lori, Tony, Sadie and Sammy taking a break for lunch

Katie with Sammy and Sadie, it was a little bit windy!

Over Valentines weekend we had our 1st (hopefully) annual Valentines Cowgirl Camping Trip - No Boys Allowed! We returned to Vern Whitaker, with a much larger group. Lori, Katie, Annaleigh, Julie Jensen, Kim Hutton and Jacalyn Larango, Katrina Schechter, and Marla and Georgia James spent a great weekend full of riding, eating and lots and lots of laughing. We brought along Tiara, Sadie, Tony, Lolita and Delilah. The whole camp must’ve been happy to see us pack up and leave, as they we’re finally able to get some sleep!

Toby, Kim Hutton on Sadie, Julie Jensen on Tony the Tiger, Katie on Tiara, Katrina Schechter on SR Count Lady, and Jacalyn Larango on Lolita

Georgia James on Sadie, and Annaleigh on Tiara

Jacalyn Larango on Lolita and Kim Hutton on Sadie

Group shot in front of one of the many metal sculptures that surround Borrego Springs. Katrina Schechter, Lori, Annaleigh, Toby, Katie, Jacalyn Larango, Julie Jensen, fresa, Kim Hutton, Marla and georgia James

The very next weekend we headed up to Equine Affaire in Pomona. Of course we shopped quite a bit, but the main reason we braved he drive on our southern California freeways was to see two (free with admission!) clinics by Andrea Fappani. In two short clinics we learned A LOT! After pruchasing a few pink buckets and a few purple halters we headed home.

Welcome to Phil and Lori Donner with Moose, Storm, Twister and Chuckie. Charlene, George and Josh Morgan with Lena, Spirit, Spanky and Ashley. Erin Kelly with Ginger, Lexi, Elle, Pepper and Savannah. Kim Olivetto with Mister and Sara. This large, great group of people have taken up residence in the back pipe corrals and have setlled right in. We’re happy to have them and are enjoying all their wonderful horses.

UPCOMING EVENTS!!!! SHOW SEASON HAS STARTED!!!

February 27 - March 1st  Winter Madness Reining, Burbank, CA
AQHA/CRHA/PCHA/NRHA Affiliate 1 & 2
Good luck to Doug Danner and Plaudit Seabreeze, Sunshine Seabreeze and Doc O Lou Seabreeze!

March 26 - 29 Spring Classic, Del Mar Horsepark, CA
Reining - AQHA, PCQHA, PCHA, CRHA

March 28 - SDCTPA Ranch Versatility Event, Lakeside, CA
Versatility

April 12 - TRVEA Trail Ride, San Diego, CA
Trail Ride - Join the Tijuana River Valley Equestrian Association for a group trail ride.

April 16 - 19 Del Mar Nationals, Del Mar, CA
Reining - AQHA, NRHA, PCQHA, PCHA

April 23-26 Hollywood Charity, Burbank, CA
Reining - AQHA, PCQHA, PCHA, NRHA
       

October and November brought our second Trail Challenge buckle series. We had a Novice, Over 50 and Open classes. We also added an inhand class which went great. Lots of young horses had a great time navigating through the course. We had several return contestants and lots of new faces. Lorraine Donner rode Remi in the novice as well as led him through the inhand. Jacalyn Larango rode Samirs Goldn Mirage in the novice and led her horse Boogies Cowboy throught he inhand. Annaleigh Coffin rode Samirs Goldn Mirage, and Thomas Coffin rode Sadie with help from Katie in the novice. They both did awesome and are well on their way to being tough competitors. Tiffany Mushet rode her gelding Fantastic Wheeler in the Novice for a fourth place. Wheelie has really come a long way from when he arrived. Katie’s student Bea also rode Sadie and did a great job.

Lorraine and Remy navigate a log

Annaleigh, Sammy and Katie head over the bridge

Tiffany and Fantastic Wheeler

 Congratulations to Annaleigh and Thomas Coffin on their new pony, Tiara. Tiara is a 9 year old chocolate palomino mare. She is very cute and sweet and is in LOVE with Annaleigh (Lori and Katie, no so much!) She looks just like Lori’s first pony, Dusty. She is great on the trail and will have a busy year ahead of her camping and attending some walk/trot shows.

 December 3rd we headed to Oklahoma City for the 2008 NRHA futurity. As usual we shopped, and ate, then shopped a little more, the definitely ate some more. What can I say, we have a great time shopping and eating! We also enjoyed watching the finals and seeing some of the best in our sport show their stuff.

 Welcome to Kelly and her quarter horse gelding, Jet. Jet is Kelly’s first horse and she is learning a lot from him. Also welcome to Kate and her two thoroughbreds Rock and Deja Vu. They are both dressage horses and are entering semi-retirement with their new digs by the beach.

October 24 - November Manuel and Doug Danner headed to Fort Worth, TX for the Appaloosa Horse Club World Championship Show. Doug brough along Plaudit Seabreeze, Sunshine Seabreeze and Doc OLou Seabreeze. They had a great time and the horses were fantastic! Sunshine was 5th in the NonPro Masters Reining. This was Doug’s first year showing LouLou at the world show and they did a great job together. The pair will definitely be back next year.

Doug and Doc O Lou Seabreeze in the show pen at the 2008 ApHC World Show

December 20th we had our annual Christmas Party at the ranch. Lots of our friends and boarders were able to come and share in the great food and lots of fun.

A ranch group photo in the office!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! From All of us at Rancho Los Amigos!

As usual it’s been nothin but hectic and busy on our side of Hollister Street, and we like it that way! We have even more new boarders, a whole new arena, and plenty of activities to keep us busy until Christmas.

 The ranch as usual, looks completely different! The fence around the arena is almost finished and it looks awesome! We also have our new roping arena, and will be setting it up soon. Also in the works is a new fenceline down the track and two new turnout spaces in the back.  We’ve also added two rabbits, Robyn and Big, two guinea pigs, Tom and Jerry, and three chinchillas, Thumper, Chuey and Chico to our animal collection. Also the big animals moved to their new outside pen in the back barn. They are LOVING it back there and are having a great time begging for treats.  Thanks to Tim Downing for the cute little log cabin, Rueben and Asher’s favorite new digs. Next time you’re by the ranch stop by and see them, just be sure to bring carrots!

Our Rabbits, Robyn and Big

Our guinea pigs, Jerry and Tom

 Asher the sheep and Jim the goat having lunch with Thomas and Annaleigh

Thomas giving Ollie the llama a snack

Jim, Bart and Ollie hanging out in the shade

Rueben protecting his cabin!

Welcome to Angela Price and her Arabian gelding Khaos and her Arabian/Mustang filly Vogue. Khaos is a former Montana Cow Horse that Angela fell in love with and just had to bring back home to San Diego. She is a true trail rider and she can often be seen heading out bright and early most weekend mornings riding Khaos with Vogue in tow.

Tom and Rosemary Armstong their border collie, woody and horses Cherokee and Chaps. Tom and Rosemary have been working on getting Chaps ready for the trail challenge and have been enjoying having horses again.

Kim Hutton and Jacalyn Larango and their six year old Quarter Horse “Boogies Cowboy” Jacalyn has been taking lessons from Katie on Sammy and getting Cowboy ready for the reining pen. She quickly made herself at home at the barn and has been a welcome addition. We wouldn’t get anything done without her!

Jacalyn and Cowboy

Kim on Jose and Jacalyn on Sammy

Julie Kline and her thoroughbred mare Taffy. Julie has had Taffy since birth and even owned her mother. Taffy is enjoying her retirement with us.

Congratulations to Johanna, Jose and Bella on the purchase of Red Baron. “RB” is certainly enjoying his new life of luxury and has settled into life with Cheetah, Scotch and Speck well. Jose has been taking lessons from Lori with RB and they are becoming quite the pair.

August 24th was our final Willow Glen show of the year. Katie and Smart Like Jose walked away Green as Grass champions, and Lori and Taris Gold Dancer were the Novice Horse Champions. They’re both sporting brand new belt buckles. Lori also rode My Full Metal Jacket to a 4th place in the Rookie Professional. 

Lori and Katie having a peptalk at the front gate. The photographer had the rest of the day off!

September 13, several of Katie’s students competed in TRVEA’s (www.trvea.org) annual schooling show. Jacalyn Larango rode Samirs Goldn Mirage to a 1st place in western equitation, and also rode Boogies Cowboy in western pleasure. Jenika Galvan rode Kodiak to a second place in western equitation. Her long hours with Kodi have been paying off and he was fantastic! Shannon rode Sadie in western equitation and western pleasure and did great, she’s hoping to have Sadie ready for the November trail challenge, so this school show was great practice!

Shannon on Sadie

Jenika on Kodiak with Katie

It’s a lot like nuts and bolts - if the rider’s nuts, the horse bolts!  ~Nicholas Evans

 The past couple months have just flown by and we have made a lot of changes around the barn. We have several new clients, and added lots of new guests to the RLA zoo. The driveway to the barn is much brighter with all the new plants and flowers a long the edge of the arena. Lori, Maryann Taylor, Katie and Martha Vargas spent hours raking, planting, watering and pruning  and all that work paid off. All the plants have taken off and the flowers are beautiful.

 Lori and Martha Vargas working hard with Tango helping. Maryann was too shy to have her picture taken.

That’s better Maryann!

The finished project!

As we all know Victor spends his days fixing this and building that. To keep him on task with such a busy schedule he now has a new supervisor. Wedo keeps a close eye on Victor and makes sure he keeps working. “Don’t forget that far corner, Victor!”

July 13th was the 3rd Willow Glen Show. Lori showed Taris Gold Dancer and Miss Top Prize, Michell Kimball showed her gelding Nifty Dun It and Manuel schooled both of Doug Danner’s horses DocOLou Seabreeze and Gallo del Seabreeze. Doug’s horses will be heading to the Appaloosa World Show this year so LouLou and Gallo will be tagging along to all the major shows from here on out.  Katie showed Smart Like Jose to a 2nd in the Green as Grass Buckle Series.

 

We have lots of new boarders! Welcome to:

Marla and Gerogia and their new mare Firefly. Firefly is an 8yo Arabian/Morgan cross. Marla is hoping to get Firefly out on the trails soon and Georgia has been taking lessons from Katie on Sadie and should be ready for Firefly in no time!

Lorraine Donner and Remy. Remy is a two year old Morgan cross. Lorraine will be training Remy as her new barrel horse. He has already filled out some and loves living next to Sammy, who doesn’t seem to love him back quite as much.

Also welcome to Johanna, Jose and Bella. Their three horses Scotch, Speck and Cheetah have settled right into life on our busy ranch and seem to be very happy. Johanna and Scotch have been taking the scenic route on our lovely trails and Johanna has been getting Speck back into shape with lessons from Lori.

 Cheetah, Scotch and Speck

Congratulations to Tiffany and her new gelding, Wheeler. Wheeler is a cute little sorrel quarter horse who has done a little of everything. They are still getting to know each other but are becoming fast friends and Wheeler seems to love it here.

And finally welcome to Jim and Chris Brown from Coronado. They brought their four horses down from Santa Cruz and hope to be able to spend lots more time riding with their horses much closer to home.

Our menagiere has more then doubled this month! Ollie, Dolly and Wally the llamas have moved into the back pipe corrals. Most of the horses (excluding Huckleberry) have gotten used to their presence and seem to have accepted them. Bartles and James are our two new goats, and Reuben and Asher are our two shetland sheep. Thank you to Dawn for raising such sweet goats and Megan for Reuben and Asher.  By far our cutest new additions are Popeye and Olive, our baby peachicks.

Congratulations to Katie’s student Michelle Randall on all her accomplishments at the TREVEA juniors gymkhana on June 28. Michelle practiced hard with Sadie in her lessons and then rode Paula Hugill’s horse Smokey to a high point champion!

Barbara and Reggie Caron’s mare Flicka also had her baby. By Talk About This, the stunning chestnut colt is named Thunder and is already a ranch favorite. He is very sweet and is always up for being petted and fussed over.

Happy birthday to Julie Jensen (Roxy and Tony)! We had some delicious carrot cake and champagne to celebrate.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

August 14-17 - Classic Championships Burbank, CA (also the Jack and Linda Baker Finals, GOOD LUCK DOUG DANNER AND PLAUDIT SEABREEZE!)
August 16 - SDCTPA Cowboy Race, Lakeside
August 24 - Willow Glen NRHA/Buckle Series #4
October 11,12 - RLA Trail Challenge Clinic and Show
November 15,16 - RLA Trail Challange Clinic and Show
October 23-26 - CRHA Reining Challenge, Burbank, CA

When you’re young and you fall off a horse, you may break something. When you’re my age and you fall off, you splatter.
- Roy Rogers

May started with our second Willow Glen show on Sunday the 4th.  Thanks to Katrina for slaving the day away helping everyone get ready, and taking such great care of the horses.

Katie Shipley and Smart Like Jose - 3rd Green as Grass Reining
Martha Vargas and Masterful Reiner - 1st Novice Horse NonPro, 2nd Limited Non Pro, 1st WG NonPro
Lori Riis and Taris Gold Dancer - 1st Novice Horse Open
Manuel Campos and Smart Wimpy Lena - 2nd Snaffle Bit Open
Lori Riis and Miss Top Prize - 1st Rookie Professional

Michell Kimball and Smart Wimpy Lena and Nifty Dun It, Julie Jensen and Rockin With Me and Carrie Umphrees and Docs De Peppy Tops also had great runs!

Martha Vargas and her first place ribbon!

Michell Kimball and Nifty Dun It

The very next weekend we headed to Casner Ranch in Temecula for the CRHA Double Judged Jackpot Show. We were all very worried about the heat as 3 days before the show it was 100 degrees in Imperial Beach! The heat was tolerable and we had a great time all crowding together under one sparse little tree. Thanks to Bob and Michell Kimball for keeping us fed with all the snacks - especially the cakecups! (no that’s not a typo…)

Doug Danner and Plaudit Seabreeze - 1st Prime Time Rookie, 2nd Jack Baker Qualifier
Doug Danner and Sunshine Seabreeze - 3rd jack baker Qualifier
Katrina Schecter and Captain Iceberg - 1st Youth Ribbons

Katrina Schecter and Captain Iceberg

May 25th was our final Ranch Horse Trail Challenge. The whole series was a great success and we are currently planning our second series to be held this fall. THANK YOU to Lori and Katie for all their hard work, Katrina for her excellent timekeeping skills, Manuel and Victor for setting up and taking down and moving around and changing and making bigger and making smaller all the obstacles, Alex Alvarez-Malo and Maryann Taylor for announcing, Maryann Taylor (again!) for planting, pruning, watering and keeping all our beautiful plants alive, Victor Sandoval for always being around to help, Cathy and Monty Montagne for letting us use their soundsystem at the last minute and a BIG BIG THANK YOU to Steve Shipley for jumping itno action and grilling us up some delicious hamburgers and hotdogs after our caterer cancelled the morning of the event.

 Congratulations to our Buckle Winners!
Caitlin Owen and Iggy - Youth
Caitie Corella and Elly - Novice
Julie Jensen and Tony the Tiger - Over 50
Kathy Aparacio - Nonpro
Julie Jensen and Tony the Tiger - Open

Youth/Novice/Over 50 Buckle Winners

Paula Hugill and “Sugar”

Adele McCandlish and “I Shaved My Legs for This”

David Rivera

Linda McMorran and “Simi”

Welcome from texas Kelly and her paint mare Lady. Lady is adjusting to life in a pipe corral from her 2 acre pasture back in Texas well and hopefully Kelly will be able to hit the trails soon!

 The newest RLA member is Barbara Caron’s newest baby out of her mare Sugar by our own Talk About This owned by Antonio Marquez. A cute little filly she is super sweet and loves butt scratches. Barbara’s other mare Flicka is also due with a foal by Talk About This and s/he should be here by the next newsletter.

 UPCOMING EVENTS!

July 5 - SDCTPA Cowboy Race, Lakeside
July 13 - Willow Glen NRHA/Buckle Series #3
August 14-17 - Classic Championships Burbank, CA
August 16 - SDCTPA Cowboy Race, Lakeside

We’ve been busy! So busy Lori doesn’t even remember we HAVE plants, much less to water them. Thank goodness for Maryann Taylor for keeping all our trail class plants healthy (and alive!) If you ever journey allllll the way to the back of the ranch you might notice the two scarecrows guarding a large spot of fenced in tires. That spot is Maryann’s new garden. Almost everyday she can be found tending to her little seedlings growing up in the tires for protection from the chickens, squirrels and other assorted RLA wildlife. So far we have cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, corn, cucumber and carrots all starting to grow. Hopefully the next RLA cowgirl’s club party will include some fresh fruits and veggies!

Congratulations to Michell Kimball on the purchase of Nifty Dun It. Since Michell still wanted a bay horse we of COURSE got her another palomino. They are already working great together and Michell is already having tons of fun on her most favorite gelding!

Also congratulations of Jim and Letha Lowry of Vista, CA on the purchase of Summer Seabreeze. Doug Danner bred Summer and then sold her. Late last year he repossessed her after her previous owner abandoned her after several months of neglect. Doug fixed her up and set out to find her a good home. Jim, Letha and Summer should have many great years together.

The LAPD updated us on Destiny Seabreeze, whom they purchased last month. Destiny is doing GREAT, he fit right in with their program and hasn’t had a problem with anything they’ve asked of him. They absolutely love him and say he is the best trained horse they have ever had. He is also their first appaloosa recruit, and probably not the last. This is his official uniform, complete with face shield.

 Well we haven’t stopped showing since last month! With such a big show team this year even Billy Bob (the blue dodge) has had to go to almost every show pulling an extra trailer.

April started with our second Ranch Horse trail Challenge. Saturday April 5th was the clinic and this time we separated the clinic into three class - 9:30-11:30am, 12-2:00pm and 2:30-4:30pm. The new schedule worked great and everyone was able to have one on one time with Lori and Katie. Sunday brought the trail challenge and the strong winds really made some of the flag obstacles interesting! There is one more challenge left for the 25th of May, SIGN UP NOW!!

The Nonpro and Open class walking through the course.

Caitlyn Owen and “Iggy” winners of the Youth Class.

Kim Lenahan and “Shotgun” - 3rd in Open

Caroline Dilman and “Sadie” - 4th Open 

 Lauren Haggerty and “Bara Ben Tov” - Winners of the Novice class

Caitie Corella and Elly

April 13th was the first Willow Glen show of the year.  The saturday before the show it was 99 degrees at the barn while Katie was giving baths, so we were all a little nervous about how hot it was going to be. It turned out to not be AS hot as the day before but we all indulged in a 50/50 Orange cream float to help keep cool. It was a successful day and despite the heat all the horses were very good. A big thank you to Katrina Schrechter, our groom for the day for her many trips to the trailer and back for forgotten chaps, bell boots and hairspray and for taking such great care of the horses.

Lori and Taris Gold Dancer - 2nd in Novice Horse Open
Katie and Smart Like Jose - 3rd in Green as Grass
Julie Jensen and Rockin With Me - 4th in Novice Horse NonPro
Carrie Umphrees and Docs De Peppy Tops - 1st in Limited Nonpro and Nonpro
Martha Vargas and Masterful Reiner - 3rd in Limited NonPro
Michell Kimball and Nifty Dun It- 3rd in Rookie Professional
Michell Kimball and Smart Wimpy Lena - 4th in Rookie Professional

Carrie Umphrees and Docs De Peppy Tops, Martha Vargas and Masterful Reiner, Lori, Katrina Schrechter and Michell Kimball on Nifty Dun It

Michell Kimball and Nifty Dun It

Carrie Umphrees and Docs De Peppy Tops

With only one day to recover from Willow Glen, on Tuesday we took all the horses up to Del Mar for the Nationals. We brought Tigger, Nifty, Barbie, Iceman, Tony, Roxy, Gallo, Sunshine, Breeze, Master and Chiquita. Everyone had a great time in the show pen and on the sidelines in the sheering squad. Julie Jensen kept us fed everyday with a delicious lunch AND a key lime pie cheesecake in honor of Martha Vargas’ birthday. THANK YOU to Bob Kimball for being the official videographer and taping everyone’s rounds!!

Lori and Taris Gold Dancer - 4th, PCHA Open Reining
Michell Kimball and Nifty Dun It - 4th Senior Horse Reining
Michell Kimball and Smart Wimpy Lena - 6th Junior Horse Reining
Katrina Schrechter and Captain Iceberg - Reserve Champion PCHA Youth Reining
Julie Jensen and Rockin With Me - 4th and 5th Basic Amateur Reining
Doug Danner and Plaudit Seabreeze - 3rd, 5th Jack and Linda Baker Qualifiers
Doug Danner and Sunshine Seabreeze
Martha Vargas and Masterful Reiner - 3rd Novice Horse, 4th Jack and Linda Baker Qualifier
Carrie Umphrees and Docs De Peppy Tops - 2nd, 3rd Jack and Linda Baker Qualifiers

Martha Vargas and Masterful Reiner

Katrina Schrechter and Captain Iceberg

Julie Jensen and Rockin With Me

Michell Kimball and Smart Wimpy Lena

UPCOMING EVENTS - Hope to see you there!

May 4th - Willow Glen Buckle Series Show #2
May 10 - CRHA Jackpot Show, Casner Ranch - Temecula
May 24-25 - 3rd Trail Clinic/Challenge - Clinic is on Saturday, Show on Sunday
May 29-June 1 - Showtime Classic - Burbank
June 5-8 - Lights, Camera, Action - Burbank
July 13 - Willow Glen NRHA/Buckle Series #3

~ It’s a lot like nuts and bolts - if the rider’s nuts, the horse bolts ~

What a month! Hope you’re ready for pictures!

WELCOME to Jessica Diaz and Ruby. Jessica will be checking out the miles of trails that surround our barn with her new mare. (Don’t worry, Katie’s already working to get her into the trail challenges!)

Congratulations to Michell Kimball on the purchase of her new mare, Smart Wimpy Lena. “Barbie” is a 4yo mare by Wimpy’s Little Step, and was trained by Andrea Fappani. Of course she is a goregous palomino (since Michell STILL wants a bay) They are certainly going to be a force to reckon with this show year! Now Barbie is looking for her Ken!

Also congratulations to the Los Angeles Police Department on the purchase of Destiny Seabreeze. Destiny carried Doug Danner to many ribbons and 2 top ten world titles. He was a solid horse in every way, huge stop, great spins even great on the trail. He is doing great in his new home, and we are sure he will have many happy years as a LA Police Officer.

March 8-9 was our FIRST RANCH HORSE TRAIL CHALLENGE! It went great with rave reviews from everyone. Saturday was clinic day, we had well over 10 people in each clinic. Lori, Katie and Katrina went around helping everyone with their horses as they took them through all the obstacles. By the end of the day there was a great improvement in horses and riders.

Sunday morning started bright and early, horses were saddled and everyone was ready to go at promptly 8:30 (ish) The Youth, Novice and Over 50 ran concurrently, we broke for lunch and the non-pro and open went concurrently. The winners were presented with RLA Ranch Horse Trail Challange custom hats, Wild Bill’s Gift Certificates and we gave ribbons through 6th place.

A BIG “THANK YOU!!!” to Jamie Willey for all her help leading up to and during the challenge. She put up with countless “Jamie, can you…..” and “Jaime! HELP!” the whole week as Lori and Katie scrambled with last minute details. She rode Sadie in the novice class did a fantastic job.

 Also a big thank you to Don and Maryann Taylor for all their help setting up the course, planting all the potted plants (and watering them) and generally helping out. Thanks to Wild Bills Western ( http://www.shopwildbills.com) for the donation of gift certificates which were given to the 1st place winners in the novice divisions.

Lori and Katie

Erika and Gringo

Julie Jensen and Tony The Tiger

Jaime Willey and Sadie

March 27th-30th was the spring classic in Del Mar. Lori, Katie, Julie, Martha, Toni, Michell and Doug brought Tigger, Smoky, Iceman, Roxy, Tony, Master, Rosie, Barbie, Summer, Breeze, Sunshine and Gallo. Lori brought Taris Gold Dancer and after a so-so round on Friday walked the walk on Saturday and Tigger really showed his stuff. Katrina and Captain Iceberg did a fantastic job sweeping up the blues in everything they entered. Iceman made a triumphant return to the show pen and the pair look to have an incredible season ahead of them. Julie Jensen showed her mare Rockin With Me for the first time and did a fantastic job. Toni Urtiaga showed Buenos Noches Rose and had some nice circles, this was their warmup show for the year and Rosie is in great shape!

Katrina Schrecter and Captain Iceberg

 Julie Jensen and Rockin With Me

Lori and Taris Gold Dancer

Toni Urtiaga and Buenos Noches Rose

 Lori and Taris Gold Dancer with Michell Kimball and Miss Top Prize

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 5-6 - 2nd Trail Clinic/Challenge - Clinic is on Saturday, Show on Sunday

April 13 - Willow Glen NRHA Show

April 17-20 - Del Mar Nationals, Del Mar Fairgrounds

April 26-27 - Hollywood Charity, Burbank, CA

May 4 - Willow Glen Reining

May 24-25 - 3rd Trail Clinic/Challenge - Clinic is on Saturday, Show on Sunday

“one man’s wrong lead is another man’s counter-canter”

The days are getting longer and warmer - Spring is in the air! We’ve busted out the show saddles and have four new box stalls full of baby chicks.

Barn News:The new box stalls are ready. Victor spent many late nights working well past dark getting the roof put on and it looks great. It still needs a coat of paint and some finishing touches, but is open for business. Michael and Sarah Bunney’s colt “Rudy” was the first resident and he gave his new digs two hooves up.

Manuel’s new brood is just too cute! Three mama hens with about ten chicks each. The babies are getting bigger and braver everyday and are now coming to the front of the stalls to say “hi” (versus running and hiding under mom). Manuel also added a second rooster and four new hens, who will soon be patrolling the front half of the ranch. We certainly will have a reduced bug problem this year.

What about ChaCha’s puppies? Well, as Lori would put it, “she LIED her way through 23 cans of pedigree” She told everyone she was pregnant, gained 10 pounds and then … nothing. Then again, could YOU resist this face?

Next month is worming month! We will be worming with Ivermectin. Even horses on daily dewormer (Strongid) need to be wormed with Ivermectin twice yearly. Contact Katie if you’d like to add your horse to our worming list.

February 22-23 was the first big show of the season. Manuel, Lori, Katie, Michell Kimball and Doug and Lou Danner headed up to Burbank for the “Winter Madness” reining show. The rain during the week closed all the outside arena so everything was moved into the equidome leaving almost nowhere to warmup. It POURED on us all day Sunday and by the time we hit the road we were all ready to go home. For Doug it was a chance to dust off his show saddles and get Plaudit Seabreeze and Sunshine Seabreeze back in the slide of things. Doug came home with an armful of ribbons for both horses. Michell Kimball also did well on her mare Miss Top Prize. She went to Burbank with a few specific things to work on from her Scottsdale experience and was very pleased with Summer. Lori brought along Taris Gold Dancer to school and brought home a first place in the Senior Horse. “Tigger” sure can be good when he wants to be! Thanks to Toni and Emily Urtiaga for making the drive up to spend the afternoon cheering everyone on. Its great to have a support group in the stands.

With show season in full swing we will often be spending our weekends in Burbank, Del Mar or at Willow Glen. Even if your horse isn’t going to the show feel free to stop by and cheer on your barn mates.

Rancho Los Amigos Trail Challenge

The trail course is finished and Lori and Katie are (mostly) ready for the trail challenge. Our training horses are already benefitting from having a little mental break before and after their workouts. Nothing cures a horse anxious to leave the arena and head to the crossties like a trail pattern! We have all had a lot of fun torturing training with the bridge, log drag, walk overs and mailbox. Don and Maryann Taylor have made GREAT guinea pigs and have been the first ones to try all the new obstacles Lori and Katie keep coming up with.

The 1st Trail Challenge will be SUNDAY, MARCH 9th. We are almost completely full for competition but feel free to stop by and watch. It will be a lot of fun and we will have sign ups for the next two challenges. The clinic will start at 9:30am. On Sunday morning, sign ups or any available challenge spots will be at 7am, there will be a draw for order of go at 7:30, a course walk-thru at 8:00 and the event will start at 8:30.

The next Trail Challenge will be April 5th-6th. Call Katie at (619) 227-5364 or e-mail ktbme@aol.com for more information. A competition based on horse and rider skills over natural trail obstacles. For example - opening and closing a gate, over the bridge, log drag etc. There will be 3 Novice buckle divisions, Youth, Novice, Over 50, with limited obstacles. There will also be two buckle/jackpot divisions, nonpro and open, which will feature more difficult obstacles. The Saturday before each show Lori and Katie will be holding a clinic for anyone interested in working on there ranch skills.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 8-9 - 1st Rancho Los Amigos Trail Clinic/Challenge Clinic is on Saturday and Show is on Sunday

March 29-30 - AQHA Spring Classic, Del Mar Showpark

April 5-6 - 2nd Trail Clinic/Challenge - Clinic is on Saturday, Show on Sunday

April 13 - Willow Glen NRHA Show

April 17-20 - Del Mar Nationals, Del Mar Fairgrounds

April 26-27 - Hollywood Charity, Burbank, CA

May 4 - Willow Glen Reining

May 24-25 - 3rd Trail Clinic/Challenge - Clinic is on Saturday, Show on Sunday

May your belly never grumble,
May your heart never ache.
May your horse never stumble,
May your cinch never break.
-Cowboy Blessing

Whew! The holidays are finally over! Lori took down the last Christmas wreath from the office and the poinsettias haven’t been watered in two weeks. (Did you know Home Depot will replace them next year!?)

Barn News:
The barn has taken in a LOT of rain these past few weeks. The front arena and sliding track are very wet and muddy, however the heavy footing in the back continues to remain rideable no matter how much rain we get. After a certain overnight downpour of almost an inch we were still able to ride the next morning, and Manuel was even bragging in the afternoon about the south side needing to be watered.

** February is worming month!!** We will be worming with pyrantel pamoate, the first wormer on our rotation of the year. If your horse is due to be wormed please contact Katie. Worming is a very important part of keeping your horse healthy and happy. We worm horses every two months, so we will be worming again in April, this time with Ivermectrin.

January started with a meeting of the Rancho Los Amigos Cowgirls Club complete with a chocolate fountain. All was well in the office as Lori ‘The Trail Boss’, Martha Vargas, Lou Danner and her twin sister Lori, Rebecca Alvarez-Malo, Barbara Caron, Julie Jensen, Maryann Taylor and Michell “speedbump” Kimball and Katie discussed the finer points of dipping chicken strips in chocolate when we were ambushed! Out of nowhere Manuel, Victor, Fernando, Alex Alvarez-Malo and Doug Danner appeared and crashed the party. It was well worth it when we had a impromptu vignette of World Famous of Matador Alejandro with his fondue sticks. As usual a great time was has by all.

The next morning we all rolled out of bed and headed to Andrea Fappani’s ranch in San Marcos where he was giving a clinic. He was very patient, had an excellent way of teaching and really helped the riders. Doug Danner rode Sunshine Seabreeze and gained a lot of good knowledge with Andrea’s help. He is a wonderful clinician and we all learned a lot and enjoyed watching.

The 18th, 19^th and 20^th, Lori, Julie Jensen, and Katie with Woody, Tony and Sadie headed out to Borrego Spirngs, for a weekend camping trip. We met up with a great group of ladies that Julie has been riding with yearly. We had a great time riding through the beautiful desert and an even better time chatting away with the girls. Sadie and Tony, the seasoned trail horses showed Woody all the tricks of the trade for his first big trail ride, and before we knew it he was crossing chest deep water like a pro.

January 28^th, Lori, Michell Kimball and Katie headed to Scottsdale for the Arizona Sun Circuit with Michell’s mare Miss Top Prize (Summer). It was Michell’s first time showing Summer and the pair did great. The three of us had a great time in our wonderful hotel and spent more time shopping then riding!

::::::NEWS FLASH::::::

Manuel is expecting!!! That’s right, before too long we will have a whole brood of new chicks. The hens have been sitting on their eggs diligently and Manuel has been checking them several times a day.

Speaking of expecting……. we’re all going to be surrogate parents! Cha Cha and Tango are due to have their third litter of puppies the third week of February (the same weekend we are in Burbank) The puppies are adorable and so much fun to have. I’m sure Fresa, Cody and Bandit are looking forward to meeting their new brothers and sisters.

Rancho Los Amigos Trail Challenge

RLA will be hosting three ranch horse trail challenges in March, April and May. A competition based on horse and rider skills over natural trail obstacles. For example - opening and closing a gate, over the bridge, log drag etc. There will be 3 nonpro buckle divisions divisions, Youth, Novice, Over 50, with limited obstacles. There will also be two buckle/jackpot divisions, nonpro and open, which will feature more difficult obstacles. The Saturday before each show Lori and Katie will be holding a clinic for anyone interested in working on there ranch skills. For more information please call Katie: (619) 227-5364.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

February 22-24 - Winter Madness Reining, Burbank, CA

March 1-2 - Andrea Fappani clinic in Mexico

March 8-9 - 1^st Rancho Los Amigos Trail Clinic/Challenge Clinic is on Saturday and Show is on Sunday

March 29-30 - AQHA Spring Classic, Del Mar Showpark

April 5-6 - 2^nd Trail Clinic/Challenge - Clinic is on Saturday, Show on Sunday

April 13 - Willow Glen NRHA Show

April 17-20 - Del Mar Nationals, Del Mar Fairgrounds

April 26-27 - Hollywood Charity, Burbank, CA