BALLOON BUSTER - Desperado mounted shooting - in which competitors break balloons with blank pistol cartridges - is scheduled for May 3 and 4 at the Tejon Ranch Equestrian Center. Tejon Ranch photo

Equestrian center has big plans for 2008

New facility manager, events coordinator eager to expand

By TINA FORDE
Valley Press Staff Writer

Maddie Wheat is the new events coordinator and Katie Dockings has signed on as Ryan's assistant.

"We want to expand and improve the events that take place," said Barry Zoeller, vice president, director of corporate communications for the Tejon Ranch Company. "It is a first class equestrian facility."

The new position is a natural one for Ryan.

"I started working here to help out so I wouldn't have to cowboy," said Ryan, 61, who has worked on the Tejon Ranch for 35 years as a cowboy for the herds of ranch cattle and privately owned cattle that graze on the leased land.

Ryan, whose son Joe is maintenance operations manager for the ranch, has two horses - Jug, a paint, and Clara, a quarter horse - and is not ready to get out of the saddle.

"I've been all over the ranch," Ryan said. "The Antelope Valley, Arvin, White Wolf, I ride it all ... It was good while it lasted. I got the opportunity to be manager. I know what they do with old cowboys: the same as old horses."

Ryan is responsible for the indoor and outdoor arenas, the conditioning track, horses and horse barns, pastures, fences and the management of and preparation for events.

Wheat, 24, came on board in midsummer to coordinate events scheduled at the facility, including classic Californio reata roping and fiestas, back country trail rides, riding and roping play days, team penning, carriage driving, horsemanship clinics, venue rentals and Desperados mounted shooting competition, in which riders fire blank pistol cartridges to pop balloons.

Wheat was working in the Wildlife Management Division of the ranch when the opportunity to coordinate the equestrian center events came up.

"We are trying to bring different events to the facility," Wheat said.

While the ranch wants more cutting, reining and other "cowboy type" events, she said, "We are trying to expand."

Diversification, she said, will include hunting-jumping , dressage and barrel racing.

The schedule is filling up, with the month of May especially heavily booked.

"Everything is going really well," Wheat said. "We have plans to get things going for next year. The bigger shows are already booked (elsewhere)."

People involved in some of the events, she said, "are all excited to be coming back." Wheat said. "We plan to make the facility into something big."

Wheat has a connection to the facility.

"I used to show here," said Wheat, who owns and keeps two horses at the equestrian center- Misty, a paint, and Pistol, a quarter horse.

Events booked in the next few months include a cow horse clinic for trainer Shawn Renshaw, originally scheduled for Jan. 5 but likely to be postponed by rain; the Desperados mounted shooting, May 3-4; Fiesta at Tejon Ranch Reata Roping and Stock Horse Contest; Backcountry Horsemen Trail Ride, May 17-18; Fun for All Trail Ride, May 25; Pleasure Days Carriage Driving Show, May 30-June 1.

Riders trailer their own horses to the activities.

The horses living at the roomy 20-stall barn are privately owned, she said, boarded by trainers who lease parts of the facility.

In Desperados mounted shooting, she said, riders shoot at red and white balloons that are set up on a course.

"It's exciting and fun to watch," Wheat said. "You shoot the red first, then the white. You follow the course and it's judged on faults and times. The winner has the best time and the least faults.

"They wear old-time cowboy gear. The Young Marines from Bakersfield set up the balloons."

The competitors, Wheat said, shoot blanks from three to 10 feet away from the balloons.

"The heat from the gun powder makes the balloon explode," she said.

A state-wide organization arrange the Desperado competitions.

Facilities at the equestrian center include a 140 x 250-foot outdoor arena with a roping chute; a lighted indoor arena for all weather riding; a quarter-mile track for conditioning horses; a 150-foot round pen; a 20-stall barn with room for up 400 additional portable stalls; access to cattle for training and shows; year-round boarding and pasturing; parking; water truck and tractor and - the vital part - restrooms and portable showers.

For details, call (661) 343-7654.