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We love our boarders!
Not a bad one in the bunch! |
Lisa and Tucson
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Rest in Peace,
Tucson. Your memory will last forever in
our hearts.
"Tucson"
is a 19 yr. old Quarter Horse who moved to
Royal Oaks in 1995. He was born in Carmel
Valley, and began his career in a dressage
barn. Once here, he took up reining, but now
enjoys retirement, and will live out his life
relaxing in his cozy stall, and long, sunny days
in turnout. He and owner Lisa Erickson have
seen many changes to the ranch and have tried to
provide us with useful history and information.
Lisa is a housewife and retired Veterinary
Technician and is the barn's Cat Lady, looking
after the five barn cats and any baby birds that
fling themselves from nests prematurely every
year. She will be posting signs about the birds
soon, with info. and contact numbers for the SPCA Wildlife Center. Lisa also does late
night walk-throughs and can be seen doing useful
things on any given day at the ranch. We
are so grateful to have them both here at
R.O.A.R.S. Tucson passed in 2009 and
will be forever missed. |
Demelza and Gracie
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Demelza got Gracie at the
beginning of the year and they seem to be
hitting it off! Gracie was a working
horse from
Montana to
Las Vegas and everywhere in between,
then she had a few babies her owner then
decided it was time for her to drop some
poundage and so Demelza is getting her into
shape (she's not fat, she's big boneded)!!
Demelza has only been riding for about 2
yrs, since she's had Gracie her confidence
has increased she is looking forward to a
great season with
District 8 Tri-County Riders. Demelza
and Gracie can be found any day of the week
spending time together riding, grazing,
walking and just hanging out at the ranch.
Even when Demelza can't ride, she's with her
horse pampering and loving on her.
They are an awesome pair. Her mom says
she can't wait to get to the ranch everyday
and never wants to leave ..... This reminds
Tammy of her childhood - "any time with
horses is time well spent"
The bottom pick
is Delza and Gracie winning the High Point
Buckle for their second year in a row at the
Santa Cruz County Fair. Good job girls! |
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Demelza and Bucky NO Buck!
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This is Demelza and her new horse, Bucky.
He came to live with us in August 2009. He is a three year
old that is going to be big and talented. Demelza plans on
training him as Gracie heads toward a graceful retirement.
The bottom picture is Demelza on Bucky and her
sister Emily on Gracie. They had an interesting trail ride
that day ....apparently Bucky doesn't like motorcycles coming up
behind him. |
Sandy and Tia
 
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Sandy and Tia were at Royal Oaks
when we took it over. Sandy is awesome! She plants
flowers, mows the lawn, helps feed and bring in horses, even has
cleaned the bathrooms a time or two to help us get ready for a
show. She does whatever, whenever it's needed. Sandy
also gave us one of our lesson horses, Lollipop and we LOVE
LOLLIPOP! Sandy's horse is Tia. Tia is a Reining
Horse and she is good at what she does. We love to cheer
her on when she is spinning and sliding. She is an amazing
horse to watch especially when she is taking advantage of Sandy
and making her mommy work in that saddle! |
Tina and Vinnie
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Vinnie
is a Pfiord? Fi-ord. However you spell it! He
has been with Royal Oaks for years. He is a stallion that
doesn't even know he is a stallion. He is a grey dun and
is such a rare breed around here that we often get asked if he
is a zebra. Vinnie looks outstanding in his harness and
you can really tell that that is what he is bred for when his
owner, Tina, puts it on him. She also trail rides him all
over the place. Vinnie is very stout and is built like a
little compact tank with a very sweet and gentle disposition.
Vinnie also has a fan club - several neighbors come by to say hi
and check on him from time to time. |
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R.O.A.R.S. Personal
and/or Lesson Horses |
Tobo
 
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Tobo is my semi-retired 2-time Hall
of Fame Gymkhana horse. He is now 16 years old (but don't
tell him that). He is currently giving lessons to
beginning riders as well as teaching some intermediate riders
how to ride a finished horse. Since he doesn't seem to
want to completely retire from gymkhana, I do allow him to
compete occasionally, at his speed and boy does that make his
day. Lameness in his foot that has been surgically
corrected is the reason he is semi-retired. I am afraid if
I ride him hard he will be in pain again and I don't want that -
I want him to live a pain free life and be spoiled - he deserves
it! In my 40 years of owning horses, Tobo is the horse I
have owned the longest as well as stole the biggest piece of my
heart. |
Sir Lance Aluke
  
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I
bought Luke from a friend of mine (thank you Suzette) in
December 2007. I've been working with him teaching him
barrels, poles and gymkhana and teaching him that the boogie man
is not around every corner. Luke is a descendent of
Secretariat and wants to show everyone he has speed - whether we
are ready for it or not. I have high hopes that he will be
an accomplished performance horse, in due time! Be patient
Spooky Luke! |
Lollipop
  
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Lollipop is one of our lesson horses. She is a sweet mare
and loves to give the little kids their lessons. Lolli is
the happiest when she has a kid on her back that is petting her
neck and telling her "good girl Lolli". She is also a
beautiful horse to look at. Lollipop is Sandy's retired
reining horse. We are so blessed to have Lolli!
Lolli has taught a ton of kids to ride, her first kid was Sami
Mount. Lolli taught Sami confidence to ride without a lead
line and now Sami rides everything we have on the place.
Lolli continues to teach children to ride with confidence, on
right after the other. She is irreplaceable! Good
girl Lolli! |
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Fresca
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After trying to convince a bunch of
client to purchase Fresca, I finally asked Rico if he wanted a
horse for our anniversary. He said "sure" and now we have
Fresca, who is officially Rico's horse, but she works diligently
at teaching kids to ride. Fresca is such a well broke
horse that she even does cow work, cutting, working cow horse,
reining ... so much fun and so many skills to teach the more
advance kids but also gentle enough for our beginning students
too. We are not sure how we ever got along without her and
can't imagine not having her here - she gets chosen to do so
much because she is just that easy to do anything with.
Thank you April for choosing us as Fresca's new and trusted
home! |
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R.O.A.R.S. Personal
Ponies |
Spanky
  
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Ranch Mascot:
Spanky
THE MONSTA! Spanky received that loving nick name because
he came to us as a stud. What a monster he was! He's
been gelded and is turning into such a sweet pony. Spanky
is also recovering from stifle surgery and we are looking
forward to introducing him to our lesson program when he is
ready. He has the cutest face in the world!
March 2010: Spanky is now one of
our best lesson ponies. He teaches kids to ride from
beginning on up. He completed 3 weeks of summer camps with
vaious kids on him and was such a trooper. And his mane
and tail have grown so long. Spanky is beautiful and sweet
all in one package! We love you Spanky and are so glad you
came to us! |
Stormy
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Stormy was given to us as a stud and
was gelded on day one at the ranch poor guy. After that we
had a lot of kissing up to do, but all is good now and Stormy is
busy being a lesson pony. Stormy teaches beginning
to advanced students and is definately the BEST jumper we have.
He loves to jump and does it very well. Stormy and
Spanky are not friends though, they are more like arch enemies,
so they cannot be in pasture together. We just rotate them
in the herd and give each his turn. |
Star
 
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Star of the Show! Star was one
of our boarders that we borrowed for camp in August 2009 and
during that camp we bought her! She is an incredible
lesson pony and has already taught a ton of kids to ride and has
taken some to show. She gets lots of love and kisses and
enjoys her long breaks in the pasture with the other ponies.
She works hard and rests harder. Good girl Star! |
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Clyde
 
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Taylor Prichard got Clyde for
her first pony. He was hyper! She spent a lot of
time with him and turned him into a really sweet and calm pony.
Then her sister Mia took over with Clyde and now Mia shares him
with us so he can teach more little kids how to ride.
Thank you to Mia and the entire Prichard family for lending us
Clyde! We love him!
November 2009: Clyde is now back home with his girl, Mia but we
get to see him weekly at lessons and at shows. Maybe
someday when Mia is all done showing he can come back and live
with us again. Thank you for teaching all those kids to
ride Clyde and thank you again to the Prichard family for
letting us borrow him - he is an awesome pony and our lesson
program would not be as successful without his help.
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| This
page is under construction. We will post more photos of
the rest of our boarders soon! |
