Paradise Valley Ranch

05/14/2024

Welcome to the world little ones!! We had a Mothers Day filled with babies! Moonshine had 7 beautiful puppies and Cleo had a gorgeous “little” c**t! We need some help coming up with names for this pretty little Percheron/QH boy!

05/06/2024

We have pasture board and stall boarding spots currently available on our beautiful 214 acre farm in Alton, VA. Board includes access to our barn & tack room, shower house, cookhouse, tons of beautiful creekside trails, ponds, round pen and soon to come (uncovered) arena! Boarders will also be given discounted rates on all clinics, events, cabin stays and on-site training.

Pasture board: $250/month (includes unlimited access to orchard grass hay and/or grass, grain is owner provided and we distribute grain nightly).

Stall board: $450/month with turnout (includes unlimited access to orchard grass hay and/or grass, grain is owner provided).

Send a message or call/text 434-446-8202 for more information!

05/06/2024

Our semi-private lesson with Cleo and Sugar was wonderful! The kids insisted on riding Cleo, our Percheron mare, and Cleo did wonderfully for her first set of 7 year old students. Watch out Sugar - Cleo is climbing the ladder towards “farm favorite”!

We offer private and semi-private lessons 7 days a week (weather permitting), lasting 1.5 hours long. Lessons include: horse safety, grooming, tacking, riding & natural horsemanship techniques/horse psychology.

Ages: 5-85 (Adults welcome!)
Weight restrictions: 275 lbs
Private lessons: $50/person
Semi-private lessons: $40/person
Buy a 5 lesson package and get one FREE.

Send a message here OR
Call or text 434-446-8202 for details and reservations!

04/30/2024

**HORSE CAMP 2024!**

Get your kids signed up for an awesome horse camp this year! Spots are LIMITED per week. If there is demand for additional weeks we will post dates as well as updates on filled weeks.
No experience is necessary to sign up!

Kids will learn safety around horses, grooming, horsemanship, tacking and riding throughout the week. We will be having at least one trail ride every day in the cool woods, guest demonstrations, arts & crafts, games, plus 2 pools to cool off on hot summer days! At the end of the week all the kids will get to do an obstacle course to practice the skills they have learned and paint our mini, Lil’ Mister, in a fun and interactive way to learn parts of the horse.

Send us a message via Facebook, call or text to reserve a spot.

Located in Alton, VA
434-446-8202

04/01/2024

A friend of mine has 3 registered border collie female pups available for adoption! Send me
a message if interested! 14 weeks old, smart and gorgeous babies looking for their “fur-ever” homes 🥰

03/14/2024

The weather is gorgeous! It feels like spring already and we have trail ride openings this weekend. Book a ride with us. Beginners welcome (ages 5 and up) or you can bring your own horses. Cabins, stalls, hookups or primitive camping is available. We always have a great time! ❤️🐎🤠

Send a message or give us a call to book your ride!

434-446-8202

02/20/2024

Welcome - MERCEDES 🤠❤️🐎

Mercedes has been in training for 2 weeks now! She came to us to get trail experience and re-introduce the barrel pattern. She has a big motor and started out impatient, easily attached to other horses, low self confidence on the trail causing her to be spooky and hated backing and trailering with a passion (she’s not scared of the trailer but has been allowed to get away with pulling away and not loading one too many times, and she knows how to back but hates doing it).

Fast forward two weeks later, perfect with ground work in the round pen in both directions and yielding head, shoulders and hindquarters, she stands tied patiently, stands to be mounted and doesn’t immediately walk off, walks abreast with another horse on the trail and is getting brave enough to offer to lead, crosses mud and creeks, moves off of leg cues beautifully, reluctantly backs but getting better and not anxious about leaving her best friend, Rain. Next step - leading trail rides and building up that confidence and hind end to re-introduce to the barrel pattern and a few off site trail rides to introduce bridges, concrete paths and going through deeper water. This girl has been lovely to work with so far and she learns extremely fast so I’m looking forward to seeing her progress the next 2 weeks! More pictures and videos to come!! 🐎

I’m also pretty excited to throw her a small birthday party tomorrow - she will be 12 years young! I will post all the cute pictures 😍🥕 🎂 🎉 🍎

01/13/2024

We currently have 2 spots for training available!

Does your horse need a refresher or need work on trails? Doesn’t like water/mud? Spooky? Barn sour? Buddy sour? Impatient? Need to get back in shape for spring? Other behavioral issues?
We can help you and your horse and it’s affordable! 🐎ALL BREEDS WELCOME 🐎.

Our training is offered in 30 day increments and includes ride times with the owner. For serious behavioral issues we recommend 60 days. For breaking or starting, 90 days is the minimum to ensure lasting results.

Send us a message or text/call for more information and to reserve a spot!

📞 434-446-8202
📍 Alton, VA

01/10/2024

I have a HUGE but SMALL favor to ask.

Go to my friends business page - The Quaken's Lair
Go to the 3 little dots on the side of page, Hit “invite friends”

Select "invite all" & done.

You've SUCCESSFULLY supported Stephanie Layton’s Small Business for $0.00 and less than 30 seconds of your time. 🙏🏼

Thank YOU for supporting small and local business! ❤️🫶🏼❤️🫶🏼

(Copied) but wanted to share as this is an amazing way to help us small business owners!

01/10/2024

Please help support a dear friend of mine, Stephanie Layton. She is struggling with some very serious and rare health issues and really needs our support! She does not want money, she only asks for everyone to buy just one item from her Etsy shop. If you can’t afford prints or cutting boards, buy a digital download (as low as $2.50). She is drowning in medical bills but has been working extremely hard on her Etsy shop. Let’s help her out! If you absolutely can’t afford anything at all, simply like her page - The Quaken's Lair and invite your friends to like and follow her page too! Every little bit helps.

Check out this awesome cutting board we are getting featuring Misty! There are also prints, canvas portraits , wall art and others in Misty’s section. The link to her full Etsy shop is attached below.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheQuakensLair?ref=related&from_page=listing&listing_id=1649089321

01/09/2024

If you love farm life, animals, photography and farm house decor?? THIS IS THE PERFECT ETSY SHOP! Go check out everything The Quaken's Lair has to offer! From canvas prints, cutting boards, journals, wall art and digital downloads with more items added weekly. For those of you who have been following Paradise Valley Ranch and love Misty, there is an entire section of merchandise featuring her too!

Help support small businesses. Stephanie Layton is the owner and a dear friend of mine and wonderful photographer. Show her some love! I’m ordering my “Rains Misty Morning”glass cutting board now and can’t wait for it to arrive!! Click the link below to get yours!

Shop Release the Quaken! by TheQuakensLair located in Mebane, North Carolina.

01/09/2024

Turn your volume up!!
Luna with the herd running through the pasture. Who doesn’t love the sound of hoofbeats and whinnies?! ❤️🐎

01/08/2024

Luna trotting down the driveway with one of our guests.

01/08/2024

Luna with one of my beginner lesson students who was still learning the basics! She’s a wonderful babysitter and teacher.

01/08/2024

Alexa leading the trail ride on Luna at James River State Park.

01/08/2024

***UP FOR DISCUSSION - LUNA***

Due to no fault of her own, Luna is available for adoption. She went to live with a 6 year old girl who loves her to pieces, but while Luna was on break taking care of her foal, Alexa fell in love with Ebenezer. Since riding Ebenezer for the last 6 months she has claimed him as her own and Luna will not get the attention she needs.

Luna is a 14.3 hand, 18 yo Arabian mare. She is safe for beginners to ride and for kids! YES, there is a such thing as a kid safe Arabian. Don’t let her age fool you, she has lots of good trail riding years left in her. She has done lessons and extensive trail riding on our property and off site trail rides. She was definitely a favorite at my farm for the lesson students and guest riders. She is not buddy sour or barn sour and will lead or follow, crosses creeks, stands for the farrier (she has tough feet so she can go barefoot or have shoes) and trailers without a problem. She also has a few breeding years left and she’s proven to be a wonderful mom. Videos are available and will be added to her album.

Located in Alton, VA
434-446-8202
3️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ OBO

01/04/2024

DO NOT SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW.. PERIOD! THIS IS HOW SCAMMERS OPERATE.

01/01/2024

Yes, yes, yes! I took lessons for years riding around in circles not really understanding anything about the horse I was riding. I went on my first “official” trail ride when I was 16 and it was an eye opener to how little I knew about horses. I only knew how to sit up straight, heels down, chin up, shoulders back. This trail ride led me to meet a wonderful mentor who taught me about horse psychology and how to FEEL, among many other things. My world forever changed that day and I’m so grateful for every experience this wonderful woman provided over the next years of my life. She took me under her wing and taught me how to fly.. I mean ride! 🐎❤️

12/22/2023

***UP FOR DISCUSSION - DUCHESS***

Duchess is a 15 yo flea bitten grey Westphalian mare imported from Germany as a 2 yo standing 17 hh. She was originally used as a dressage lesson horse at Chatham Hall and she is a big mover! We have owned her for 2 years and I was on the fence about selling or breeding this beautiful girl. She does liberty work and knows all the leg cues for her discipline. She extends and collects beautifully, knows her leads and can do lead changes and probably much more. We have also taken her down trails and she does great crossing creeks, navigating tricky trails and has even ridden around our cows. We have taken her through trail obstacle jumps and she is a gorgeous mover. She has also been on a couple fox hunts and loved it! She would excel in a dressage or hunt seat show ring, fox hunts or she could even be a trail companion. Even though she is a flea bitten gray, she does not prefer to get dirty and roll around in mud, thank goodness. 😂

Photos and videos available.. check out her album on our page! Westphalians are hard to find under 5 figures, so this is a rare opportunity!

6️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ OBO
Alton, VA
434-446-8202

12/21/2023

***UP FOR DISCUSSION - BIG RED***

Looking for a safe and confident trail riding horse? Big Red is a 14 yo sorrel Tennessee Walking Horse standing 16.2 hands. He has been on tons of organized trail rides and state parks from Virginia to North Carolina. He is more “go than woah” but he is not pushy and will stay slow if asked. For this reason he requires at least a confident beginner rider. I let guests ride him on trail rides and have had my 9 yo lesson student ride him no problem! He leads, follows or rides solo no problem. He has a lovely gait if you prefer to gait on rides and he will go all day long. He LOVES water so needless to say he crosses creeks, streams or rivers perfectly. He enjoys wading through ponds, rivers and lakes! He is super friendly in the pasture towards other horses and he is always the first to greet you at the gate. He stands patiently being tied, mounted and for the farrier. No health or soundness issues (PPEs welcome). Located in Alton, VA.

4️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣

Please PM for more info, multiple videos available!
434-446-8202

12/19/2023

Welcome to the Paradise family, Rebel! Rebel is a 6 year old quarter horse mare that has been used for beginner lessons and trail rides. I took her on a tour of the farm for a few houses Saturday and she was a rockstar! She is super friendly and I think she’s going to end up being one of the farm favorites in no time. Thank you Rocking B Farm for giving us the first option to buy this sweet mare!

12/19/2023

Doc’s Paint Me Proud aka “Doc” was delivered to his forever home today! I’m so happy for Karen to be able to enjoy trail riding on a safe and reliable horse. She has not had the best of luck in the past buying horses from traders, but now she has a wonderful companion to enjoy riding with her partner! I couldn’t have asked for a better home for this sweet boy. Looking forward to planning trail rides with them soon!!

12/14/2023

Some pictures I captured from last Saturdays fox hunt with the Red Mountain Hounds! Stephanie rode Cleo, Joe & Cheyenne (7) rode Big Red together, Chloe (11) rode Doc, I rode Chet (his first Fox hunt) and Kara came back to ride Sugar! The kids were extremely excited to join us. We all had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again!!

12/08/2023

***SCAM ALERT***

To all my friends who have business pages on Facebook - ignore messages that read like this and by all means, do NOT click on the provided link. It is only a way to attempt to steal your information!

12/06/2023

***Time for a name!!!***

Rosie’s calf and Freddie got some loving in the pasture yesterday. Rosie’s calf is pretty brave and independent. She is SO beautiful with a dark chocolate hue. She doesn’t quite know yet what to think of the strange 2 legged creatures petting her mom! Help us think of some name ideas! 😍🐮

12/02/2023

Check out our photographers awesome prints available for purchase! Please help support. If you can’t afford to buy anything from her shop, no problem.. it costs nothing to share! Help us spread support for a talented and awesome lady with her business! ❤️🐎

11/27/2023

Don’t forget about our Black Friday deals - UPDATE: WE HAVE EXTENDED OUR DEALS THROUGH CYBER MONDAY (11/27/24) UNTIL MIDNIGHT! 🐎❤️

These can be used personally or given as a Christmas gift! Don’t miss out!

11/25/2023

Paradise Valley Ranch BLACK FRIDAY DEALS! We are offering deals for an extended time period this year!! Available for purchase TODAY & TOMORROW ONLY (11/25 & 11/26) can be redeemed between now until November 26, 2024 (365 days!)

Guided trail rides:

1 hour ride $50 (farm tour with pond)
1.5 hour ride $70 (extended farm tour with pond and historical landmarks)
2 hour ride $90 (extended farm tour with creek crossings and historical landmarks)

Overnight packages:

Cabin stay one night and complimentary 1 hour trail ride (max 2 people) - $175 ($325 value)

Cabin stay - buy one night, get second night OVER half off! $225 ($350 value)

With cabin packages there is no additional fee for guests to bring their own horses, unless renting a stall!

Western Style Riding Lessons:

Buy 5 horseback riding lessons, and get the 6th AND 7th lesson free!

Private: $250 ($350 value)
semi private: $200 ($280 value)

Rules:

Package must be purchased by TOMORROW (11/26), but it is ok if you don’t have a specific date decided upon for 2024. This makes these package deals perfect for a Christmas present too!!

Must be redeemed within a year (November 26, 2024). Dates selected may be rescheduled ONE time (unless emergency circumstances or natural events such as weather). Dates availability is first come first serve, so be sure to select a date for redemption sooner rather than later so we can accommodate you! These are non-refundable or transferable!

Rider weight limit for complimentary trail rides: 250 lbs (max 325 for up to 1 rider currently)

We can accommodate riders ages 6 and up!

Payments accepted via Venmo, CashApp, Zelle, Apple Pay or check.

Send a message to Paradise Valley Ranch OR 434-446-8202 to redeem your package and submit payment with confirmation.