There sure is a lot of trail riding going on out of the ranch these days. Dixie, Tom, Joyce and Randy have been venturing out on an almost daily basis enjoying the many places you can ride to right from the ranch. They also are doing some travelling to Wickenburg, Apache Junction and beyond. They welcome everyone to ride with them and everyone always comes back smiling so they have great times.

Sue and I have recently gone to Karen Scholls clinic in Rio Verde. We spent 3 wonderful days with our horses Cindy and Sam and had a great time. Playing Polocrosse (flipping balls around with a lacrosse type bat) was exciting especially since we were riding with halters only and a lead line on one side or the other. Sue was very proud of Cindy and of course Sam was his usual amazing self.

A couple weeks ago I went team sorting with a good friend Jeanne and her son William. Haven’t been for quite some time but had a total blast. It is my favorite thing to do on horseback. We were up north so it was a wee bit chilly (freezing) but my Sam did well and we’ll be going a lot more.

Shannon, Jamie and I went to a practice sorting on Friday evening. Shannon was interested in seeing how Tempest (Arabian) would do on the cows. Jamie was interested in seeing how Doc reacted to cows. She was told he was a cow/ranch horse but she wasn’t sure. He most certainly is a cow horse and did a fine job. Jamie’s first time team sorting and we had a perfectly clean run once that evening. You go Jamie girl!

Tempest – who is an endurance horse- in real Arabian fashion snorted and pranced when he saw the cows. Shannon lunged him and then moved him into moving the cows, he got the picture, loved it and he went right after them. When we had the “Introduce your horse to cows” clinic here, Cindy (another Arabian) won it over the quarter horses. How about that? They sure have a flashy way of going but they are game.

Randy has brought the most beautiful lady mule with him this year. She is a very dark bay, very friendly with people, and a sweet gal. His horses are all wonderful but she is my favorite mule of all time.

We’re planning some fun things: We will be having some sort of cow working clinic from people who like the sport, Shannon is an endurance rider and is happy to ride long and hard with other people who like to do the same, Dixie and Tom are happy to show newcomers the trails.

In April, we will be putting on a horse sale at Rockaway Hills Ranch. The purpose of the sale is to allow people to inexpensively sell their horses and have a good place to display their horses capabilities. Rockaway is beautiful.

Please contact me if you have any questions on any of the above. We enoy meeting new horse people and are always excited to hear of new places to enjoy .

Oh yes. We also play Horse Soccer and the horses just love it.

Thanks for taking the time to read our news.