ACTHA Monthly | September 2015 | 8
Somewhere along the way Kelly fell in love with donkeys and mules. Her menagerie now includes Jassper, a Mammoth Donkey Jack, Jake, a young gelding mule, Ricky, a Peruvian Paso gelding that she got as a rescue after he foundered and was abandoned in the high country of Wyoming on a hunting trip, and Maverick, a grade horse she rescued from the sale barn for $20. Maverick is currently Kelly’s main ride, and does everything from ponying young colts as she gets them ready for riding, to her granddaughter taking him out on the trail. Just goes to prove there are a lot of great horses out there for little to no money.
Kelly came with her daughter Patty to Wood Guest Ranch in Boswell, Oklahoma in 2011. She was hired to work a couple of Percheron horses that needed some tune up with their driving skills. Their previous trainer (Kelly uses the term loosely) hitched the horses and ran them until they couldn’t run any further. Needless to say, there were many bad wrecks and the horses were basically ruined. Kelly and Patty started them over from scratch and turned one of them into a calm carriage horse. The other suffers from a breathing disorder, apparently from birth, that was exacerbated by being forced to run constantly. He has since been turned out to pasture to live out his life in peace. After that, Kelly earned her place at the ranch and eventually came to be the manager.
In September of 2013, Kelly was riding with her client Lynnae Englund on the trails at Wood Guest Ranch. Lynnae told Kelly, “You should put on an ACTHA ride here, it’s perfect.” Kelly said, “What’s ACTHA?” And that’s how Kelly became a ride host. After doing her research Kelly scheduled her first ride for March of 2014. Having previously hosted horse shows and competed in NATRC, she agreed with Lynae’s opinion, that hosting ACTHA events at Wood Guest Ranch would indeed be the perfect venue.
ride for March of 2014. Having previously hosted horse shows and competed in NATRC, she agreed with Lynae’s opinion, that hosting ACTHA events at Wood Guest Ranch would indeed be the perfect venue.
Following the ride host material gave Kelly a road map to success. She figured if she followed the map it would work, and it did. In her first two rides Kelly’s number of competitors doubled, she was on her way. Then the rains came to Oklahoma.
Rain and dangerous footing conditions forced Kelly to cancel her March 2015 ride. Though her riders understood, Kelly was heartbroken. As the spring season in Oklahoma continued, it turned out to be a very trying time for trail riders. The rains came, and continued to come into April and May, flooding about 80% of the property. Kelly and Patty planned trails closer to camp, determined the rides would go on. Kelly’s April ride went off without a hitch. Only a few riders had cancelled because of the mud, but they weren’t so lucky in May. With the forecast constantly changing the chances of rain went up and down. May was crunch time for riders chasing year end points and Kelly’s ride had more than enough riders to be a qualified ride. Determined not to disappoint her riders Kelly once again planned trails close to camp, and told everyone it was a go, rain or shine, so bring your rain coat!
The first morning six mile CTC went out as planned and then it started raining. They still had an AOC planned for that afternoon and another CTC for the next day. Kelly’s riders were determined to continue and Kelly, Patty and the judges decided they couldn’t let them down. If the riders could do this, then so could they. Wood Guest Ranch doesn’t have a covered arena so they did their obstacles of the afternoon’s AOC in between outbursts of rain showers around the covered pavilion where the judges and assistants could stay out of the rain.