How’s your summer been? If it’s been anything like ours, it’s been busy, fun, and adventurous. We’ve done lots of horsing around—mustang events, trail rides, horse camping, ranch riding shows—and of course between the fun, we’ve done some work on upcoming Horses for Clean Water opportunities.
Here at Sweet Pepper Ranch, we’re getting ready for our first ever Cowgirl Retreat! In case it’s something you might be interested in, here’s a little preview of what our Cowgirl Retreat will look like:
Our Cowgirl Retreat is designed for committed, experienced women riders interested in improving their riding and horsemanship skills, along with learning mind and body awareness skills. (Who isn’t interested in self-care these days?) The Cowgirl Retreat will be at our Sweet Pepper Ranch and the riding portion will focus on ranch riding.
Ranch riding is a newer discipline that’s becoming increasingly popular and can be performed by any breed horse. Ranch riding emphasizes quality of movement, overall manners, and responsiveness; horses perform required maneuvers at a forward, working speed, with light contact. It is a fun way to break up training routines and offer new learning experiences for our horses and us.
By adding yoga and meditation to our Cowgirl Retreat, we invite attention to our own physical and mental well-being. We will listen and connect with what our bodies are telling us, and turn that into action—perhaps learn to improve posture, increase range of motion, or even just to relax for a few moments. No yoga or meditation experience is required, and all levels will benefit.
If a Cowgirl Retreat is something of interest to you, watch for our upcoming 2018 event schedule. Sign up for our newsletter—we plan to offer at least a couple retreats next year. Sign up early if you’re interested; we keep our groups small to make them personalized, so they fill up quickly.
On the work front, at Horses for Clean Water there’s lots going on. Please take a look at our events page, and whether you live in Treasure Valley or Puget Sound, we’ve got an event for you. For those of you in other parts of the country, we’ve got some things in the works for the Bay area of California; Portland, Oregon; Maryland; and maybe even Arkansas. If you’d like HCW events to come to your neighborhood, contact me so we can work on making that happen!
Matt is also working on horse activities, and after his big Extreme Mustang Makeover win in Reno in June, he has now been invited to compete at the Mustang Magic. This is an invitation-only event held in Fort Worth, TX in January. He has applied, so stay tuned to see how that unfolds, and what new mustang adventures lie ahead for us down the road.
In the meantime, I hope to see you at an event about winter pasture management, improving drainage and mud management, composting horse manure, or one of our other great classes that will help you get ready for winter!
Alayne
