WHOOP-TI-YO, LITTLE COWBOYS! The Inspiring Story of Someday Ranch
	SEPTEMBER 2004

by Chantel Tieman
Photos by Brad Shifflett

We named our place Someday Ranch because when we purchased the property it was being used as a garbage dump and as a hangout for sad members of our local drug culture.

The first time we looked at the place we thought, "Someday this will be the site of an ideal children's riding ranch. Someday we'll have everything perfect for kids to come here, be safe, and have fun with horses.

Beginning with that first visit we have used the word "someday" a lot around here. So it is a good name for the place

Most riding ranches are geared for adults. Adults can come to Someday Ranch and we give them lessons, but we focus on children because our future is in their hands. Learning when they are young to take care of horses prepares children to become responsible adults.

We see a lot of abused horses, many of them were bought by first-time owners. They thought it would be nice to buy a horse, but had no idea what responsibilities go along with owning a horse and often ended up with a neglected miserable animal.

We head off that kind of sad experience by teaching kids the principles of horse care from the inside out. They learn how to feed and groom the animals. We teach an equally important lesson, however — that horses are supposed to be loved. They are intelligent creatures with great capacities for responding to social stimulation, whether positive or negative.

My horses are continually featured in school reports, essays, and student research projects.

Fun but Solid Steps for Aspiring Riders
We teach principles of good horsemanship to children of all ages. Many of our young riders get started at the age of three. Some riding instructors and facilities do not teach children under five because they think it is too difficult and are afraid of liability issues. Their idea is for any children who come to watch their parents take lessons. We don't do that.

A child as young as three can learn to ride a full-size horse with no problem at all. I've been teaching three-year-olds for years without a problem.

We are able to provide children who visit us with an immersion experience on a real working horse ranch, with a lot of fun thrown in.

Our crash course includes hands-on instruction in bathing a horse. We call it "the car wash." We line the horses up and give the children buckets of soapy water. Then we all join together to cover the horses with water.

We scrub the horses down and then hose them off. The children laugh and giggle through the whole experience. They have a blast! Even the dogs get into it. They enjoy being hosed down too.

Afterwards we dry the horses off, "polish" them, give them a treat, and let them go. At that point we usually get the loudest laughs from the kids — and groans too. Because the first thing the horses do is to lie down on the ground and roll in the dust.

Growing up Cowgirl
My mom bought a horse when I was seven years old. She was one of the first-time horse owners who, in some cases, inflict awful damage to wonderful creatures. However, my mom was also one of those special people with the wisdom to know what she didn't know. She bought how-to books for aspiring horse-owners and studied them carefully.

My mom was a natural-born wrangler. She carefully developed the knowledge and skills required to care for her horse, especially learning how to gentle and train the animal without breaking its spirit or harming it in any way.

Mom's second purchase was a show horse that she bought simply to have a quality mount for riding around the Napa Valley ranch we had bought. That ranch served as a huge outdoor play area in which we could have fun on our horses and experience nature directly.

I had a blessed childhood growing up on that ranch. I developed a love for the outdoor life and especially for those big, wonderful animals that were at the center of everything. I developed a heart for the country life and a love for waking up and seeing my horses out of my bedroom window.

Our Horses our Friends
We are currently maintaining two of our horses in their retirement years. I never ride my animals to death, but retire them long before they are ready simply to fall over from age and fatigue. They retire into a somewhat heavenly existence, from their point of view, I think. They just hang around the place as pets.

If you come to visit me, Abe and Cheyenne will walk over to the gate and, with gentle affection, will introduce themselves to you.

Abe's story is particularly inspiring. He came to us as a seriously abused, fearful creature. It took us a full two years of patient loving and nurturing to convince the poor animal that he was safe with us and we wouldn't abuse him.

Abe is an alpha horse — one the those animals who always has to be first across any finish line and the first animal in any line he ever gets in. However, under our gentle ministrations, Abe turned into a big doggie. Now he walks around free and makes friends with everyone who he meets.

People who aren't at all interested in seeing me sometimes come around here to visit Abe, bringing him carrots and apples.

I got married in May and Abe was one of the groomsman. (Seriously! Drop by and I'll show you the pictures.)

Better Even than Another Horse!
I could get away with having Abe be a member of the wedding party because I married a genuine cowboy. Little girls who go to bed at night with visions about someday having a cowboy sweetheart, are dreaming about Ray. He's a rough tough, boot-and-buckle man with a heart of gold.

Ray is an old-fashioned cowboy, who says what he feels and means what he says. He has a way of saying "Hello darling" that will melt a cowgirl's heart. It surely melted mine.

The story of our romance is like something out of a modern fairy tale. It seems like our lives ran on astonishingly parallel tracks until the lines of our destiny converged to bring us together. Consider this:

• We both were stuck in unwise marriages for 13 years.
• We both had horses in our blood but married a couple city slickers.
• We both divorced our spouses in the same year.
• We ended in the same divorce court at the same time.

The one fact that was supremely true of us both that, in my opinion, accounted for how things worked out so wonderfully well is that before we met Ray and I both prayed to God for a spouse that would be a soul mate. So now I'm married to my best friend. Sometimes things really do just work out.

Husband, father, and cowboy, Ray gets all the roles right. He's a great hunter, for example, who takes delight in teaching his children how to hunt right. He's very strict with gun safety and training. He works hard for clean kills and eats everything he shoots. He has a frontier mentality about hunting — he will only do it if it helps feed the family. If he has too much venison left in the freezer, he won't go hunting.

Ray is wonderful with horses. He knows instinctively how an individual horse should be treated. He's gentle with all animals. I needed a guy like that. I needed someone who knows that horses are to be treated right, not just fed mornings and evenings.

Young children love to see Ray. He's like something they've only seen on TV. They wave to him. "Hi Cowboy," they say. He comes strutting over to them and really plays the part.

The two of us are a real team. I'm like Lucy Ricardo, with wild — sometimes hair-brained — ideas. But Ray doesn't play Ricky to my Lucy. He backs me on my passionate schemes, watching with interest to see how they turn out and sometimes with amusement to see how they are going to crash around my ears.

Caring for Horses Through Thick or Thin
The theme of our time with the children is that having a horse includes more than simply riding. Horse ownership is a big responsibility, calling for care and concern.

If one of our horses is injured or sick, we include the children in the process of changing bandages and giving medicine. In one recent case, the children could watch the progress of one of our horses from suffering with a leg so swollen she could not stand to walking around and performing naturally.

We had a colicky horse a year ago and for a few days we had to walk her during the night. Our older students and adults would come by to help us with her. They would call us on the phone, "Is Jet OK?" We were walking him day and night; the vet was basically living at our ranch.

Nothing we did for the poor animal seemed to have any beneficial effect. We really thought that we were going to lose him and his suffering was breaking everyone's heart.

One terrible night we found him lying in the rain with his head in a pool of water. Jet was Ray's horse and the time had come to make a decision. Ray went out in the darkness to talk the matter over with the beloved animal.

I don't know what Ray said to him, or what kind of a miracle took place, but right after that meeting Jet began to come back from the dark edge he had been teetering on and eventually completely recovered his health.

The kids and the adults watched that entire event play itself out and we all rejoiced together in the horse's recovery. The children learned from a real-world experience how horses have to be taken care of, how they can get sick, and how medical attention mixed with loving care (and lots of prayer) can often help them recover.

After a couple months in our program the parents of our students frequently call me. "My kids want to get a horse." Right! Of course! Who could become familiar with these magnificent, loveable creatures and not want to get one for themselves?

Loving Care for our Loving Animals
None of our horses ever have more than two lessons a day. We enforce a very strict safety code for both horses and children. For example, no rider ever pulls on a horse's mouth more than once.

We have an initiation period during which I watch to make sure the rider is being gentle. When someone, usually a child, pulls hard on the reins I tell him or her kindly, but firmly, "You must not hurt the horse's mouth." I teach them that they cause the horse pain when they pull too hard. "Be firm but be kind," I tell them.

We always encourage positive reinforcement as the main principle of animal management. We instruct students to reward the horse when he does something right — to give the animal a pat on the neck and say, "Good boy!" They must learn that horses have feelings and emotions.

Furthermore, we never work our horses to exhaustion. Everybody is taught the importance of warming the animals up before a ride and cooling them down afterwards.

Students always take off the saddle, themselves, and aren't permitted to put the animal away sweaty. The kids learn right away to put the horse away clean and dry — just the way they got it out — and to reward it with a carrot. After giving the treat we instruct the student always to pat the horse on the neck and say, "You did good." We drum this sequence into the students from the beginning.

The parents who stand around and watch get the idea, as well. We teach riders to groom their mount after a ride until the cinch mark — which we call "the belt mark" — is completely erased. One six-year-old rider tried to put her horse away, but her mother called out to her: "I still see the belt mark." The child brought the horse back and brushed the mark away. I loved to see that! It illustrated the teamwork that is involved when this education is working at its best.

We make sure the horses are as happy as we can possibly make them. When they are not working, we give them long breaks. We turn them out of their own pasture onto a five-acre place where they can roam free. These animals are intelligent enough to do things just for enjoyment. They gather in the shade of the trees and begin jumping, bucking, and playing together like schoolchildren on holiday.

We don't board horses at Someday Ranch, except when people hire us to train their animals for them. Only our own horses are used in our lessons. This keeps the lessons private and free from interruption or distraction from other riders.

Teaching Horsemanship Every Which Way We Can
We're in the happy business of turning city slickers into cowboys. We help them move from tennis shoes and shorts to boots and dungarees. A wonderful part about this business is the great people we meet! Clients often become friends.

My tack room is full of drawings and pictures of my students. I have so many of these that I've begun making albums in order to clear sufficient space to display the most current pictures.

Someday Ranch is a year-round program; we never shut down. Ever since last Christmas we've been going seven days a week, in all kinds of weather. Children and adults come out here even when it is cold and raining buckets. They show up in their slickers and learn that horses love the rain. Horses and riders all end up having a lot of fun together jumping through the puddles.

We bring weather right into our curriculum since it is important for people to learn that horses need to be worked constantly. Whatever the weather, the animals need their exercise.

As I write this we are gearing up for a Boy Scouts camp. The kids are going to pitch their tents and then spend 24 hours learning the techniques of riding, grooming, and care.

The Scouts will go riding the first day followed by a BBQ in the evening. Next morning they will feed the horses, then clean and groom them. Plenty of time will be available to play fun games on horseback, and to take their first steps in learning how to handle a lasso.

After the riding is over, the kids will learn how to take the saddle and blanket off, then how to groom the animal while it cools down.

The 24 hours on a real ranch ends on a high note, with a big water gun battle in the evening. The kids go home wet, laughing, and full of new information about horses and horsemanship. They will have learned that there is a lot more to riding than simply coming in and climbing onto a saddle for an hour.

The Someday Rodeo
In October we have a junior rodeo for children ages 3 to 17. Each participant prepares for competition by taking a of couple lessons. Parents show up for the big event and cheer the kids on as they demonstrate the skills they have begun to develop. Events that day include mini horse shows, barrel racing, and goat tying.

One of the high spots of the event is the performance of the junior drill team. Last year the rodeo was right after September 11. The drill team's colors are red, white, and blue and we worked the patriotic theme into everything we did.

The team has created a maneuver I never saw before of passing an American Flag back and forth while racing through the arena. Something about that event was tremendously moving. We were all bawling. After it was over, the whole crowd was on its feet and we were clapping and cheering as loudly as we could. We were very proud of them.

We give ribbons and certificates to everyone who competes. On that day everyone is a winner. The top barrel racers get buckles. The reward for the grand winner is an opportunity to race their trainer.

During the summer we sponsor a clinic for girls who want to get on the drill team. The response has been so great that we have been thinking of forming a junior team.

Four-legged Friends and Therapists
I rejoice in the opportunity just to be with the kids — see them smile, watch them give their horse a carrot, and say goodbye until next time. I love working both with animals and children. I especially love working with handicapped children.

Horses are very therapeutic. Most people when they see a horse will say. "That's neat." But when you get to know these marvelous creatures, and begin to bond with them, a whole new world opens up. Horses have feelings; they will become friends with you. They have their own personalities and in many cases are individuals truly worthy of love and admiration.

Some of my adult clients come out to ride early in the morning before they go to work. "This is my peaceful time," they say. "This gives me strength to face the rest of the day." Some handicap clients wait all week long to come and be with "their horse."

Being around these sensitive animals is always a healthy thing, sometimes producing amazing effects.

I once had as a client a severely mentally and emotionally disabled child who bit and clawed at me as I guided his horse around the yard. It was a demanding experience — trying to avoid the child's biting and scratching while keeping him in the saddle and helping the horse to remain calm.

The child's mom had brought a camera and took roll after roll of film. The woman was crying with joy as we came in at the end of the hour. "I never saw him smile before," she said. All the time he was riding (and trying to gnaw my arm off, it seemed) the poor child had a big smile on his face.

A young teenage girl from Liberty rides with me on Saturday mornings. After the ride I took a picture of her with our digital camera. "That's the biggest smile I ever saw," her mom said when she looked at her picture.

Parents tell me that some of my younger students mark Xs on the calendar in order to count down the days until "horse day." One four-year-old keeps a picture of "his" horse, Nate, on his refrigerator. "Is this the day to go see Nate?" he keeps asking his mom.

The Full Life at Someday Ranch
According to a bunch of sad country songs, cowboys are a dying breed. And I guess it's true because the cities are spreading out and putting the squeeze on the old ways of living. But some of us continue to feel that life is at its best when it has a few horses in it. That part of the old days is worth preserving. I'm doing my part to keep the old values and skills alive.

We keep making things better as we go — trying to improve all the time. For example, we tried the rodeo for the first time last year, took a lot of notes, and had a blast. We've read our notes over and this year will be even better.

My dream is to drive down Poe Lane someday and see a second arena full of children, both healthy and handicapped, with aides handing out ribbons in reward for lessons learned.

Someday I would love my ranch to be known far and wide as a place for children and especially handicapped children to come to be a cowboy or cowgirl for a day or for a lifetime. We'll have a place where many people — both children and adults — can laugh in the sunshine and enjoy the company of horses

I'm doing everything I can to bring the dream to reality. And I'm sure it will happen! Someday!