January, 2011

Dear Friends,                                                                                                  

75 degrees on Christmas and snow on New Year's. . .that's Arizona!

As we look back over 2010, another season has passed and a new horizon is showing light...as  we ring in 2011 it will be special for both of us, as Beverly turns 50 in January and Wil 70 in August. Birthday milestones for sure!

Our lives are more than just the horses, but the horses do become a focal point for anyone who has the great privilege of taking the stewardship responsibility of embracing a lifestyle with horses.

We have made many acquaintances and dear friends through this life--our horse clients from all walks of life,  alfalfa farmers, feed store owners, equine chiropractors & dentists, veterinarians, saddle makers, fellow horse trainers, working cowboys, rodeo people, packers & outfitters, horse sale managers & traders, tack suppliers, fencers & barn builders, horse trailer salesmen, and diesel mechanics & tire servicemen.  All of them creating a network of western folks who are tied together through the horse. 

We are grateful for this life and the good folks we know.  In each interaction we try to add a spark of the Divine's love, sharing the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. The necessity of making of living can, at times, diminish the true spirit of sharing and we can find ourselves torn. As we move forward into a New Year with all its promise and hope, knowing full well trials and challenges will be a part of it, may we all stand firm in our faith and live our beliefs and values. May we take time to look for the reasons our lives are evolving as they are, and take steps to direct our path, carefully and prayerfully choosing our trail and thus our destiny, God willing.   As we have learned from training horses, the release is more important than the pull or request; the stillness, the patience, and the breathing before moving on quiets the horse and makes him able to relax and comprehend the lesson. It is the same with us. Take time to reflect, and then...get those feet moving again!

Wishing  you and yours a New Year of health, happiness, and prosperity in its purest form.

Beverly & Wil 2011 Horsemanship School Dates & Events. . .

Be sure to try and break away and join us once again in the dryer, warmer region of the U.S. Your horses will appreciate the effort you make to improve your communications skills. The journey with horses goes only as far as the horizon you choose to see. As Wil put it back when he was competing, "you're only as tough as the company you keep". Keep reaching and learning and enjoying your horse!

Arizona Winter Schedule:

• Jan 13-15 Reined Cow Working

• Jan 21-25 Outback Train Training & Horsemanship

• Feb 6-10 Ladies Only! Practical Horsemanship with Beverly

• Feb 22-27 Foundation to Finished Bridle Horsemanship  (2-4-6 day option)

• Feb 28-Mar 2 Reined Cow Working

• March 14-19 NEW--Cowgirls Only! Progressive Performance Horsemanship w/Beverly

• March 26-28 Return Riders Versatility Round-Up

Oregon Spring/Summer Tentative Schedule:

• May 8-10 Trail Training (can combine with Outback Trail class)

• May 11-13 Outback Trail Training

• June 2-7 Foundation to Finished Bridle Horsemanship  (2-4-6 day option) & (can combine with Cow Work class)

• June 8-10 Reined Cow Working

• June 16-18 Ladies Only! Practical Horsemanship (Plus option--add June 19-20)

• June 27-29 NEW--Cowgirls Only! Progressive Performance Horsemanship w/Beverly (Plus option June 30-July 1)

Visit the School Schedule  page on our website for full course descriptions and tuition information.

New WHR $avings Offerings for 2011. . .

Purchase a WHR Gelding and get your Class for 50% Off! Now through March 2011, you can get your class for 50% off when you purchase a Wil Howe Ranch gelding.  (For full courses only--classes must be pre-paid at the regular price and the discount will be deducted off the purchase price of your horse)

Repeat Return Riders get 50% Off! Repeat Return Riders are those who have attended as a Return Rider at least once. Now, you may attend any regular class at 50% off.  That's an additional 20% over the normal 30% Return Rider discount!  (For full courses only--regular deposit is still necessary to reserve your spot; see School Schedule & payment details on our website.)

Students get 10% Off any Tack or DVDs! If you purchase any tack or DVD's while you're at the ranch attending a class, you'll receive a 10% discount off the regular purchase price.

Here are a few missed WHR Happenings and

Grapevine News items from 2010 . . .

Congratulations to Jane Ely of Kirkland, Washington. Santa was especially nice to her this Christmas, as she received a Gift Certificate for a suitable WHR gelding of her choice in 2011! After 12 great years,  her WHR gelding Magic, a lovely black Docs Remedy bred gelding, is now in his twenties and showing fatigue and ready to retire. We look forward to getting Jane mounted again this spring on another WHR "good one".

Previous WHR client, Nick Sorani of Rogue River, Oregon, adds another WHR gelding to his family's recreational horses with Pockets. Here, Wil & Nick enjoy the sagebrush hills over Eagle Valley this past November.

After three years, Beverly's little sassy cow horse Nifty has found a perfect home.  New and passionate WHR student, Teresa Sweetwood of Donnelly, Idaho, came to our October Reined Cow Horse Clinic and got "bit by the bug".  Having trained and ridden her own project horses, she was ready to step up and get a well-trained cow horse to enjoy and learn from, using him for all-around ranch work on cattle, trail riding the back country, and to rope off. Lord knows Nifty has had lots of that in Wyoming as Beverly's #1 mount for the tough jobs on the ranch, rounding up, sorting, and handling the bulls.

Also attending our fall Reined Cow Horse Class was former WHR student John Child of Portland, Oregon. After 10 years, a few Wil Howe geldings, and lots of hard work, John, along with his daughter Alexi, have become passionate about showing reining and working cow horses in the AQHA competitions. They have been very successful, as our highlights of their achievements has shown. Returning to get re-focused in his pursuit of refinement and working on "lightness" with Wil, John also brought a young project colt to start on live cattle. Here is a nice candid shot of his seasoned bridle horse Tick, as they entered the show arena earlier this year. They finished up as year-end champions in the OQHA Reining  &Working Cow Horse classes. Alexi won the same youth classes as well, and 10 in the 2010 World AQHA show.  Congratulations!

Here are a couple of shots from our appearance at the Pendleton Round Up 100-Year Celebration in September. Rigged out in our antique angora chaps and cowboy gear, we're pictured here with our friend, master saddle maker and buckaroo cowboy, Monte Beckman.

In June, Robert Aranda and his son Nate came to Oregon from New Mexico for a month to train and get bonded-up with their new horses, Poco and Mercury, whom they purchased while we were in Arizona. Staying in their "big rig", these guys came in style with a 53' living quarter three-horse trailer! After taking up our driveway for weeks, getting them on the road was a feat of masterful truck-driving ability, as Robert, Wil, and Robert's assistant Marty worked to get the long rig to clear our ranch entrance. Since then, the Arandas have been back home in New Mexico, enjoying the barn we designed and ordered for them, taking Merc and Poco to the high mountains in the fall. Robert also successfully participated in a NTRAC Trail competition ride with Mercury, accomplishing all the obstacles.  "We are becoming one, my horsemanship is progressing, and it's because of Mercury."

Here is a series of captured moments in the making of a young horse women. Kendra Sorani, age nine, received hands-on pointers from Beverly in a private clinic at the Sorani's Pleasant Creek Ranch in Rouge River, Oregon, last spring. You are never too young or old to start living your dream!  Click here for info on private clinics at our ranch or yours.

Greg Kallmeyer, from Kentucky, spent two months training with us last winter. He has been putting it to good use, schooling his four Hanoverian Warmblood mares in the Wil Howe way of doing things. Not only are they progressing in their fundamental dressage work, but in trail riding and jumping as well, creating another version of a versatility horse--an English/Western cross-over! Greg is marketing them so he can step up to a WHR Quarter Horse gelding!

There are many more success stories, too many to count, but we always appreciate hearing from our folks who are "making it happen" on the journey with their horses. So send us your horse stories and successes!