Hello horse lovers. I hope this message finds you looking forward to warmer days ahead and a fabulous spring filled with sun drenched long lazy days spent with horses!
There has been so much going on with the ResqRanch it is certainly time for an update. Mostly right now we have been getting prepared for the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo. If you are a horse lover, I expect to see you there! It is the premiere event for Colorado horse lovers to come and bask in everything wonderful about this magnificent animal. It is at the National Western Complex, the same place as the Stock Show, March 15-17th, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And it’s happening soon so plan to be there!
We have been practicing trailer loading (lot’s of recent videos on the YouTube channel about how we do this in an R+, or positive reinforcement way). That is for us one of the most important things we can do to mentally prepare the animals for attending the event. And this year, we are bringing Emblaze the off-track Thoroughbred who raced an astonishing 51 times before retiring with us, Cesar the young Mustang who was captured out of the wild, and finally our rescue donkey who was covered in mange and living in a chicken coop when his well meaning but overwhelmed owners begged us to take him in. So come to the barn area and meet the crew! We can tell you more about their fascinating back stories, quirks and endearing habits.
We also will have a booth there in the Expo hall, sharing the message of R+ training for horses. We still need volunteers to help staff the booth. So if you would like to have some help with your entrance fee and parking pass, give us a call, shoot us an email, or simply sign up for a slot on our poll which is posted on our Facebook page. Or you can access it here Link to Volunteer Sign up Poll
As far as trying to figure out what day you want to attend, I can share with you I will be speaking on Friday the 15th at 2 pm, in the Discovery Hall. My presentation is “Why is R+ the Best Training Method and why should you care?”. Afterwards I will be spending some time at our booth answering questions and having a meet and greet.
Then on Saturday the 16th, in the paddock area, I will be doing a demonstration of Getting Started with Clicker and Target Training for Horses. It should be really fun, we are super excited and looking forward to a wonderful event!
And if you already know you want to learn everything you can about R+ Training for horses, then I encourage you to sign up for my Horse Relationship Building Masterclass. I will be giving it LIVE on Sunday April 14th. So mark your calendars. And remember completion of this class is required before joining our weekly Train-the-Trainer on site classes. We do have a limited number of scholarships available to help offset the cost of the class, as well.
But besides the Expo, and my Horse Masterclass, what else is going on with the ResqRanch? One of the most exciting updates, as you may already know if you watched my recent Great Day Colorado episode, is we now have a partnership with ConexMart, an aerospace and defense organization located in Conifer, Colorado, and one of the largest employers of veterans in the foothills. We are so excited about our partnership with them. Not only are they donating to help support our animals and our cause, but together we created the “Stubborn Adherence to Excellence” Award, in honor of our beloved Donkey. The employee of the month will receive this award, and eventually, once we have more finished classroom space, we will feature those employee awards on the walls of the Ranch. They are also planning to have a summer work day for us and have a team building-get out in nature day at the ranch, helping us do some work to improve our facilities for everyone’s enjoyment. Personally, I am so delighted and honored for this collaboration. My mother is an Army veteran, and I have so much respect for these brave men and women who are willing to lay down their lives for our freedoms. I am so grateful to you all, thank you for your service! It is my great honor and pleasure to be able to help provide a warm, and loving space for veterans and their families to enjoy nature and be around the animals at the ResqRanch. This partnership is truly a gift and I am so humbled and grateful to everyone who helped make it a reality. Stay tuned for more updates about this partnership, as well as the other veterans and their families events we are hosting through the Jefferson Center, a local non-profit in Lakewood. I am so excited about how things are coming together!
Besides these events, we are right now putting the finishing touches on our summer schedule of other events as well. From Patio Polite dog training, which this year will start at the Ranch and then move out to the public, to our ongoing weekly Horse Trainer Training program, and finally the first Sunday of the month during the summer will be various pop up events including horse yoga, meditation with horses, cooking for animals, and mini summer camps for kids!
Ok all you horse trainers out there, it is also time for our annual Positive Reinforcement Trainer of the Year award! So set up those mini tripods, take some video, send us the links to those videos and let’s see what you've got! And this contest is open for ALL animals, not just horses. So if you trained your goldfish to ring a bell for food, we want to see it, and you just might win Trainer of the Year!
After the Horse Expo, our next event will of course be the Kentucky Derby Party on the first Saturday in May. This year we are extra lucky because it happens to fall on May the 4th Be With You day. So far it looks like the party is shaping up to be held at the actual racetrack Arapahoe Park in Aurora. If that is the case, we will be able to do a behind the scenes tour of the stable area since I have a racing license. Stay tuned to our social media feeds for more details as that date approaches.
We plan to have a full moon drum circle event on June 21st to celebrate the solstice, so bring your music maker and join us for fun after dark event!
Please note the Ranch will be closed Thursday July 4th to allow volunteers to spend the day with their families.
And then our next big event will be VegFest Saturday July 27th and Sunday July 28th. This is the premiere event for Colorado animal rescues to have a booth and tell the community about what the organizations are doing to have a positive impact on the lives of people and animals.
Finally, our final event of the summer will occur on Sunday September 1st, where we will host the awards ceremony for the winner of the Positive Reinforcement Trainer of the Year. I hope it’s YOU! But even more so, I hope to see you at Horse Expo, and then at one of our ResqRanch summer events. Get your branded t-shirt from our ResqRanch Gift Shop on Etsy, and get FREE admission, FOREVER! Stay tuned to our social media feeds, subscribe to our YouTube channel, donate if you can to help us with our mission to spread the message of R+ training and end the need for rescues in the first place, while promoting the human-animal bond so both live happier, and healthier, longer. Sign up for our newsletter, so you can be kept in the know about everything happening with the ResqRanch and how YOU can be a part of it.
Thank you for reading and caring for the animals, and each other, God bless. DrQ and the Crew of the ResqRanch and Aspen Park Vet Hospital.