Branch River Ranch - Read About Our Ranch News (May 07 Issue)

• Articles for Wisconsin Horseman's News by Julie Stammler | Feb09 | Jan09| Nov08 | Jun07 | May07 | Feb07 |

Manitowoc / May 07 - Congratulations to Kandee Doetsch of California - the new owner of the paint gelding, Tommy, previously owned by Sue Hendricks of DePere.

On March 31st, trainer Jen Bender attended the dressage clinic at Amy & Dave Anderson's farm in DePere with clinician Lois Heyerdahl. Jen rode the Andalusian stallion Gentil MOR. They really got a great workout, fantastic feedback and better Ranch News

understanding of the next step in the training process. We really had a great morning and were able to sit in on a couple other horse and rider combinations. We were hoping to watch a few others but we had to get back to the ranch as were were expecting some new horses in. While cooling Gentil down and trying to load our tack, we had a visit from Amy's pet pot belly pig who has free roam of the barns. Gentil is used to dogs, cats, guinea hens and peacocks... but a PIG! He was interested in the strange looking creature but not sure of the sounds she made.

We welcome three new training horses at the ranch including a paint gelding, Heza Dream Machine(Levi) owned by Mary Hasterlik of Green Bay, a paint mare, Scotcha Gotcha Good (Fannie) owned by Jean Everson of Pulaski and an Azteca mare, Izabella (Baby Girl) owned by Theresa Cavanaugh of Reedsville. Trainer Jen Bender will be very busy between training and showing this year. She has started to look for someone to come in and help with tacking, bathing, grooming and maybe some ground work. At the present time, the barn is full. The Andalusian stallion, KA Habanero, will be going to his new home in Georgia this month and the Andalusian mare, Rossa Lita BR is now confirmed in foal by Gentil MOR and will be leaving us for her new home in Maryland. At the end of April, we have two stallions coming in for training, as well.

Chuck and I purchased the stunning black pure Spanish Andalusian mare, Macarena del Sol. She came from Hacienda del Sol out of Vero Beach, Florida, where we purchased our other black filly, Presiosa. Macarena is three years old and is revised, listed in the Spanish Stud Book. Jen has started to work with her on the ground and we will be breeding her in late spring. Macarena has beautiful straight movement and will make a superb dressage horse. We are very excited to add her to our training and breeding program.

A barn is not complete without a few more doggy friends. Jen brings her Corgi, Jess, to work with her when the weather is fair. She gets along great with my Miniature Schnauzer, Atilla, and they keep each other company while we work. Jen has added another puppy to her household - a French Bulldog she named Gus. Shortly after he arrived here and was introduced to Attila, Chuck and I purchased a female Miniature Schnauzer puppy we named Lizzi. Gus and Lizzi spend the day in the barn playing, fighting and sleeping together. They have become such good friends. We have introduced our Giant Schnauzer, Kiela, to Lizzi and we are now working on introducing her to Gus. Kiela thinks that she is a puppy too, and sometimes those big old paws can hurt the little ones, so we have to take it slowly.

At the end of March, the weather here was gorgeous. The horses enjoyed having the winter blankets taken off and being able to run "naked". With the warm weather, we also started seeing a lot more of Blue, our peacock, playing with the guinea hens. They winter together in a large outdoor bird aviary and in spring, I open their door so they can come and go as they please.

Until Next Time...
Take time to smell the flowers along the way. God Bless...