McGinnis Meadows Ranch Travels to Seattle!

February 9, 2019, Volume 14, Issue 6

Greetings everyone,

This week Shayne and I had the opportunity to head to Seattle to work with the Seattle Mounted Police and their horses.  Over the course of this past year, the Mounted Unit has undergone some major changes—the most important one is that they have adopted the Buck Brannaman style of horsemanship as the basis of their program.  This could have only been done by the hard work of a passionate officer named Stephan and with Shayne and Buck’s support.

Shayne has become the official “Consultant” for the program, and is in charge of making sure the program transforms from being almost absolved from lack of success and consistency to becoming the best Mounted Unit in the country!

Already, with the dedication of the officers, the Chief and Assistant Chief of Police, the Police Foundation, the program has changed dramatically.  Facilities are improved, officers are on board with the horsemanship, additional horses have been purchased and horses who were already at the Unit are becoming confident and successful with the introduction of great horsemanship.

Shayne has already had several officers at the ranch with their police horses for training several times over the last year (and with more visits scheduled)!  This was our first visit working with the horses at their own facility.  It’s so amazing to see how many of these horses have already turned the corner since adopting this new philosophy of horsemanship.  Stephan, Amy, Matt and Brandon are the Unit riders and are all working hard to improve their own horsemanship.  All of them were green riders coming into the Unit, but are now well on their way because of their dedication to this!

Shayne and I worked with each of them and worked with individual horses.  They have one new police horse who just needs more exposure but who has a great start.  Some of the other horses had old demons that we worked through with great success.  They even had a new pony that I was able to spend some time working with!  His name is Buzz and I instantly fell in love 🙂

Stephan and Matt will be joining us for an extended clinic week at the ranch in April and they plan on bringing nearly all of the Unit’s horses with them!  Then in May, Shayne and I will head back to the Seattle facility (with our own horses this time) to work with the officers, do a demo with them and the riders for the general public, and then head out horseback into the city with our horses and theirs to offer support to the horses and riders in Real Time.  I’m so excited!

Stay tuned for news of the success of this Unit.  The Chief of Police wants this Unit to become the best in the country and it is Shayne’s mission to make that goal a reality—through hard work, Buck Brannaman horsemanship and the teamwork of the Unit.   Des

In other ranch news this week, we had Lyne continuing her training on her horse Andy. The two of them are getting along famously and Lyne couldn’t be happier about the relationship she has with her horse now.

Brooke joined us too. She has been a guest many times as well as an intern, and she is always ready to absorb more information to improve her riding skills. Even though she is only able to ride when she is at the ranch, she works hard and always brings her A game- and it shows in her progress!

Pasture work continues as weather allows. It has been cold here with negative temps but weather is expected to warm up a bit next week. When the temps do drop we keep a close eye on the herd to monitor their weights, and general appearance. The horses are good at hunkering down in the trees if it is snowing and they love running around and playing when there is a cushion of snow on the ground!

Everyone is busy preparing for our next group of guests heading in – it is crazy how fast this winter is moving. A part of me wants the summer weather to get here, but at the same time, McGinnis Meadows is just beautiful this time of year.

Have a great week ahead and we will  be back with you next week!

Janice