Santa Ynez Equestrian Celebrities

Monty Roberts
Originally uploaded by Keith Jack

Santa Ynez Valley has many equestrian celebrities. One of those is self-proclaimed "horse whisperer" Monty Roberts. Although Monty's horsemeanship techniques seemed revolutionary to some outside the world of Western riding, they were similar to those espoused years earlier by Tom Dorrance who wrote "True Unity: Willing Communication between Horse and Human" and Ray Hunt who wrote "Think Harmony with Horses."

Monty and his wife Pat, a talented sculptor, own Flag is Up Farm, a large equestrian facility, in Buellton. The farm accepts horses and humans for training! Tours of the farm may be available on the weekend.

Of course, the Santa Ynez Valley has four-legged equestrian celebrities. Three Kentucky Derby winners were trained here: Flying Ebony, Grindstone and Charismatic. 2007 world champion Cutting Horse, Doc’s Tee Boots resides here in the Valley. I could add to the list but you'd really have to be into horses to appreciate it.

Santa Ynez Celebrity Equestrian

Entertainment by Ramon Becerra
Originally uploaded by kenpauley

Santa Ynez is home to a number of horse lovers, vets, owners, trainers and entertainers. Ramon Becerra works as a trainer, trick roper, stuntman and equine entertainer. His performances include elements of haute ecole dressage, the classical form of the sport originally popularized by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. He also performs flashy acts like standing with one foot on each of two horses that he is driving in tandem as they canter around an arena.

Ramon uses Freisians, Lusitanos and Andalusians in his performances. They are gorgeous animals with thick flowing manes and tails.

Because this is such a "horsey" area with many equestrian events, we have usually have the opportunity to see him at least once a year. Last summer, Platinum Performance (a manufacturer of horse supplements) sponsored a free show at the Santa Ynez Equestrian Center featuring Ramon, Charlotte Bredahl and Sandy Collier among others. It was quite a night!

Santa Ynez Equestrian Celebrities - Western

Cutting horse....
Originally uploaded by FullMetalJackett

Santa Ynez has another universe of celebrities from the equestrian world. The Santa Ynez Valley is often called "The Valley of the Horse."

Because of the area's long ranching tradition going back to the Spanish vaqueros, we have a large population of Quarter Horses (the breed favored by Western riders). Quarter Horses compete in a number of disciplines, but the two most prominent are cutting (shown above) and reining.

Cutting involves separating a cow from a herd or "cutting it out." No blood is shed in the process! The cow's natural instinct is to get back to the herd, and that's where the challenge lies. The 2007 World Champion cutting horse Doc's Tee Boots lives here in the Valley.

Reining is similar to dressage, another equestrian discipline, requiring close communication between rider and mount to perform specific manuvers. Reining's most showy feature is a sliding stop.

Sandy Collier, a nationially recognized reining trainer and rider, lives and works here in the Valley. She was the first and only woman horse trainer to win the prestigious NRCHA (National Reined Cow Horse Association) World Champion Snaffle Bit Futurity. She also won an NRCHA World Champion Snaffle Bit Futurity Reserve Co-Championship in addition to being a regular Finalist there annually. She has been a NRCHA Stallion Stakes Champion, an NRHA Limited Open Champion, and an AQHA World Champion. She has ranked among the year's top five reined cow horse all-ages, all-divisions riders, and is ranked in the top 10 for NRCHA earnings. She was also a regular finalist in the cutting futurities when she showed cutters

One of my friends and neighbors Pat Cuddy competes successfully in cutting. Her equestrian facility is just up the road in Woodstock Ranch. It's a pleasure seeing her beautiful horses.

Santa Ynez Sedgwick Reserve

Santa Ynez is blessed to include Sedgwick Reserve. I've alluded to it several times and thought I should explain a bit more about it. It is regarded as the "crown jewel" of the University of California Natural Reserve System.

Here's why:

Encompassing 24 square kilometers (9.2 square miles) on the southern slopes of the San Rafael Mountains, the Sedgwick Reserve spans an elevational range of 500 meters (1,650 feet) and is noted for both its large size and environmental heterogeneity. The reserve contains two distinctive geologic formations: relatively young Paso Robles alluvium and much older Franciscan metamorphosed seafloor, including large areas of serpentine. Diverse vegetation types include coast live oak forest, blue oak woodland, valley oak savannah, buckbrush chaparral, coastal sage scrub, grassland, willow riparian forest, serpentine outcroppings, and agricultural lands. The site contains major portions of two watersheds and a variety of localized wetland habitats, notably vernal pools. The region has a rich Native American heritage, and at least one Middle Chumash habitation site (1,500 to 2,000 years old) rests on site. The reserve’s large size enables research of varying scales on native ecosystems.

Francis Minturn Sedgwick and his wife Alice DeForest Sedgwick purchased the land in 1952, using it to run cattle and as a family retreat. Because both were avid riders, the ranch included equestrian facilities. In 1997, it passed into the University of California Reserve System as a result of their bequest of the bulk of the land and a purchase of the remainder by the Santa Barbara Land Trust and other individuals. In connection with the funding, an agricultural easement was placed on several hundred acres which had both vineyard potential and potential for growing other crops. For those of you interested in genealogy, Francis and Alice Sedgwick were the parents of Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol's muse, and were also distant relatives of Kyra Sedgwick.

A recent benefactor of the Reserve is the Tipton Foundation whose gifts have led to solar power, improved roads and, most significantly, a meeting house built to the highest standards of energy conservation. It is a model for those who want to go "green."

Today scientific research is conducted on the Reserve as well as public education, aimed principally at elementary school children. The Reserve has an active corps of docents who lead public hikes once a month and act as teachers for the visiting students.

I've enjoyed my association with the Reserve as a docent tremendously. In fact, there is a class this morning in "Duke" Sedgwick's old art studio about local wildflowers. Gotta go learn more about the bright patches of color now appearing on my panoramic view.

Santa Ynez Schools

Santa Ynez Valley has three high schools and several elementary schools. I'm on the Board of Trustees at Dunn School and visited there today. That inspired me to write about our valley schools.

Two of the secondary schools are independent boarding schools that also accept day students. The third is a public school that draws students from Santa Ynez, Solvang, Ballard and Buellton.

My son's experiences as a freshman at La Canada High School caused him to retreat from education. Big classes and a tenured teacher slacker waiting for retirement turned him into an angry, indifferent student. He enrolled at Dunn School in Los Olivos as a sophomore. We followed him to this beautiful valley.

Dunn's small classes and individualized attention turned him around. He enjoyed the challenge of its advanced placement courses and its sports program. Because Dunn has international students from all parts of the globe (and all economic circumstances), he became much more of a citizen of the world. Today he's at Grinnell College in Iowa, one of the country's leading liberal arts colleges.

Our valley has another independent high school - Midland. It is also located in Los Olivos but is situated far out Figueroa Mountain Road on a former ranch and encompasses several thousand acres. It has strong academics with an emphasis on environmental education, addressing all things "green." It has a farm program and an equestrian program. The students are required to play an active role in the school's upkeep - even gathering wood to heat water for their showers. When my city boy heard that, he quickly demurred.

A sidenote is that Midland sits across the road from Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson's second home or is it his third or fourth? When Jackson was in residence, the Midland students had a direct view of fans standing outside Neverland's gate. He still owns the property but it's included in local real estate listings.

The third high school is Santa Ynez Unified High School. It has had very strong programs but has been hit hard by the budget cuts all public schools are facing.

Santa Ynez Swimming Hole

Santa Ynez has many informal swimming holes in addition to the terrific pool at the YMCA. Fritz and Anke happen to favor the horse trough on Live Oak Road in Woodstock Ranch. Here's a picture of them going for a swim - which is what prompted yesterday's trip to the groomer!

Woodstock has several of these troughs to accomodate residents who trail ride. I see riders on these trails almost every day. Not many of the second home folks who use their property as a retreat keep horse here, but lots of the full time residents do and have extensive equestrian facilities.

My nearby neighbors have Peruvian Paso Finos, Missouri Trotters and Icelandic horses. My old guy Cinch is a quarter horse who is enjoying his retirement from cutting competitions. Cutting is a cowboy sport based on the horse and rider's skill in cutting (or separating) a cow out from the herd. The horse is the skilled part of the equation. The rider's job is mostly staying out of the horse's way and in the saddle.

Some of the homes in Woodstock are in flat areas and others, like mine, are on ridges. Trails give the flatlanders a chance to appreciate the panoramic views from the highground. Only a handful of parcels abut the Sedgwick Reserve, and Ridgeline Ranch is a rare property having seculsion, tranquility and vistas over thousands of acres.

Santa Ynez Avian Fashionistas

Santa Ynez has an amazing variety of birds. I wanted to post a picture of a yellow-billed magpie in flight, but I'm unable to import one from the internet. I'm afraid I'm not speedy enough with my camera to capture one. These birds are incredibly dramatic and elegant when they spread their wings. Magpies have white, black, blue and irridescent hunter green feathers. The green appears at the edge of the tail and is almost like a pinstripe! The open wing has white in the center and black around the edges. The effect in the air is incredible. I think they resemble well-turned out divas at an awards show, so full of confidence they're almost brash. The pump and glide motion magpies use to fly is a model of energy conservation.

Lesser goldfinches are the opposite, darting about anxiously bringing brief grace notes to the symphony of serenity at Ridgeline Ranch. The range of lesser goldfinches is broad but their migratory pattern is still a bit unclear. I'm delighted to be on the pathway to their summer retreat. I think of Ridgeline Ranch as their second home, but perhaps that concerpt doesn't work for migratory birds. Yellow-billed magpies have a narrow range in central California oak woodlands. Because of their preference for woodlands, I rarely see them in Los Olivos and have never seen one in Solvang which is more developed.



Fortunately, the local band of magpies seems to like the Woodstock Ranch area of Santa Ynez. I enter the ranch at the intersection of Brinkerhoff and Long Valley Roads where my friends Sandy and Barry have a good-sized equestrian facility. Without fail, I see magpies perched on wires, fenceposts or even the ground at the intersection. Perhaps they're drawn by bits of hay or grain left by the horses. When they visit Ridgeline Ranch, they usually home in on the area where Cinch is fed.

Santa Ynez Serenity

My dogs (Anke on the left and Fritz on the right) and I went for a walk this afternoon. Here's a view of them on a rise opposite Ridgeline Ranch with the Ranch and its major view behind them. If you click on this picture or any of the others in this blog, the photo will be enlarged to fill your screen - demonstrating in detail what handsome animals these two are!

The temperature was perfect today and we trekked around Woodstock Ranch. Santa Ynez has several residential areas. We live in Woodstock Ranch, a collection of approximately one hundred 20-acre parcels, many of which have superb equestrian facilities. Several of the owners originally purchased their ranches as second homes and now live in them full time during their retirement.

Ridgeline Ranch has a large pasture facing Live Oak Road on the western edge of the property and a large flat area on the eastern edge where it abuts Sedgwick Natural Reserve owned by UCSB. (The Live Oak pasture is shown below in the Wildflowers Galore photo.) The flat area adjacent to the Sedgwick has vineyard potential or could be the site of a barn or an arena.

Sedgwick encompasses almost 6,000 acres or more than nine square miles! Check out the Reserve at http://nrs.ucop.edu/Sedgwick.htm. Ridgeline Ranch is a rare property because few parcels abut the Sedgwick. I always feel that Ridgeline Ranch is like an oceanfront home except, in this case, it fronts pristine California foothills offering a panoramic view and ultimate tranquility and seclusion. And not many oceanfront homes are built with a similar concern for the environment. Our home on Ridgeline Ranch is a green building and received expedited permitted from Santa Barbara county because it was so eco-friendly.