Carousel Ranch

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween from Carousel Ranch! 👻

10/29/2024

Don’t forget the second chance auction is live until Friday! Place your bid now! 👏

10/29/2024

Have you pre-ordered your Christmas wreath yet? 🎄

🐴 🎄Its *almost* the most wonderful time of the year🐴🎄Get ready for the holidays and help out our students at The Ranch! Pre-order your holiday wreaths by November 15th and pick up at The Ranch on December 7th. Order now our website - link in our bio 🔗

10/29/2024

Our Ready to Work! hens have been working overtime this fall! We have an abundance of eggs here for sale at the ranch! Stop by the office or Tack Shack for your farm fresh eggs today! $6/dozen 🐣

10/27/2024

🐴 🎄Its *almost* the most wonderful time of the year🐴🎄Get ready for the holidays and help out our students at The Ranch! Pre-order your holiday wreaths by November 15th and pick up at The Ranch on December 7th. Order now our website - link in our bio 🔗

10/26/2024

Today is our RTW! Open house. If you or someone you know is interested in our RTW program today is the perfect time to stop by meet our instructors, students and learn more about what they do. Enjoy some yummy coffee and donuts too! Share this with a friend ⭐️

10/26/2024

Tonight our second chance auction goes live @ 6 PM! Don’t forget to set a reminder and help us sell out our HOW inventory. Visit the link to check out what we have! Share with a friend ⭐️

10/23/2024

Don’t miss out this week!

🐴 Friday, October 25th we’ll start our 2nd chance auction! You don’t want to miss out. Snag a gift for someone you love or yourself 😌

🪴Saturday, October 26th we’ll be hosting a RTW! Open house. Join us for coffee, donuts and learn out about our program.

Send this to a friend! ⭐️

10/18/2024

Happy Birthday to Camryn our RTW! Program Manager she’s dedicated to our program, staff and students! She always goes above and beyond for The Ranch! She’s hard working, fun and lovjng! Truly an asset to our Carousel Ranch Family We hope this year brings you many blessings and a million more adventures! 🌟

10/18/2024

Join our RTW! Open house October 26 from 10 AM - 12 PM.

Learn more about our program, participate in garden activities, hear from staff and students and enjoy some donuts and coffee!
Enter our raffle for a chance to win a prize! Contact us by phone 661.268.8010 or email [email protected] for more info. We look forward to seeing you there! 🤗

10/17/2024

Accessibility allows us to tap into everyone’s potential.” – Debra Ruh

October is National Disability Employment Awareness month! Our Ready to Work! Program uses an innovative and creative approach to teach our students vocational training. We help equip them with the tools to reach their independence and find their purpose. We practice their skills in teamwork, communication and have them put their experience to the test at our Tack Shack and Ready to Grow! Garden. We have instructors work with them one on one so they can work towards carrying out their goals! We also partner with College of the Canyons to offer them certificate-based courses in Customer Service, warehouse and fulfillment logistics! And partner with local businesses so our students can use all they have learned in real work settings such as, Holiday Inn, Starbucks, Fun Burger, and Results Shake Bar, just to name a few! At Carousel Ranch, we believe in empowering our students to provide them with the skills they need to shoot for the stars 🌟

10/14/2024

October is Down Syndrome Awareness month! We want to celebrate by showcasing our talented students. Say hello to Luke! 👋🏻

Luke has always loved all things Disney and in February of 2023 he attended a job fair and was able to speak to a Disneyland representative about a job and was later sent an email stating that with the completion of his Level 2 program at RTW and Disney orientation he would become a paid employee at Lamplight Lounge at Pixar Pier! His Ready to Work! Instructor helped him prepare and practice the new role he’d take on at new job! His Dad says “Luke is 100% a Disney fan and has been talking for years to one day work at Disney! And here we are!” Way to go Luke! ❤️

09/28/2024

Meet Caleb 👋🏻 - Our 2024 Student Rider ✨🐴

Caleb is 5 years old and is diagnosed Coffin-Siris syndrome. He also has agenesis of the corpus callosum, which means he doesn’t have the nerve bundle that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain. His mom, Anna shared, “We found out in utero that Caleb was going to have major defects and once he was born, we weren’t able to think about the long term implications because most of Caleb’s first year of life we just focused on survival. During this time, his grandma had hope and put his name on Carousel’s waitlist. She believed that one day Caleb would be able to do things that other little boys could do, and she knew the power of equestrian therapy to help him start to walk.”

By the age of 3, Caleb was more stable but still far behind. He was just beginning to take semi-consistent steps when he had his 4th major open heart surgery in January. While the surgery was successful, Caleb lost the ability to walk because he was bed bound for so long.

Anna continues, “When we found out that Caleb got off the waitlist we were elated! Caleb’s whole life we’ve been told that he is “low tone” with weakened muscles due to his heart and his syndrome, but after his first month of lessons we watched him carry himself differently and start to confidently take steps again.”

His instructor Katie shares, “During his lessons, we work on balance, core strength, mobility, loosening his hips as well as engaging his muscles overall. The movement of the horse engages Caleb’s entire body.”

When Caleb went to do an intensive with his physical therapist, she just leaned back and said “Who is this boy?” She explained that it was hard to plan for Caleb’s intensive because the growth that he had made since starting at Carousel was exponential. Just 4 months after starting at Carousel, Caleb fully gained the ability to walk.

09/26/2024

Meet Izzy – one of our amazing riders in this year’s Heart of the West demonstration 🐴✨

Izzy has been at the Ranch for just over a year. Her mom shares, “Izzy has autism, intellectual disability, and a speech disorder. She is an overcomer. Izzy entered our home through foster care with her little brother three years ago. They both have unique challenges and special needs, but you’ll never meet kids who work harder. They have experienced things that no child should, and have remained playful, sweet, and loving. Winning their trust and watching them blossom has been the greatest privilege and we can’t wait to adopt them this fall.”

The Ranch is unique in that it doesn’t feel like therapy. She has grown in her bravery to try new things, her ability to follow multi-step instructions, and her overall stamina.”

Her instructor Stefanie shares, “From her first time on the horse you could see the peace it brought to her. She would close her eyes and sink into the movement of the horse. We all know how it feels to be “out of sync” and in need of a weighted blanket or simple hug. For Izzy, the movement of the horse does just that without her even knowing.

Her mom continues - Izzy can slip into a fight/flight trauma response quickly which has happened in other therapeutic environments. That hasn’t happened at the Ranch. Being outside, on a horse, Izzy is at her calmest and most relaxed. That glimpse of a girl at absolute peace, laying on a horse - it would be enough to make her time here worth it - but they’re doing so much more. They’re building strength and skills that will serve her for years to come.”

We hope that Izzy knows that here at the Ranch she will always be loved, she will always be safe and we will always be rooting for her.

09/24/2024

Meet Abram! 👋🏻 Our 2024 Student Rider testimonial ✨

Abram King is 6 years old and started riding at the Ranch in March. Abram and his twin sister, Caroline were born at 32 weeks. A minute after Abram was born, his lung collapsed and he did not breathe for a few minutes. The lack of oxygen to his brain caused the damage that now translates into his diagnosis of cerebral palsy.

His mom Mihaela shares, “I put him on the waitlist when he was 18 months old. In March, we finally joined the Carousel Ranch family and we couldn’t be more excited. Being here feels like being part of a large, loving family. Horseback riding is strengthening his core, increasing his trunk control and is facilitating the use of both of his hands. Abram has become very attached to “his” horse and talks about her daily.

His instructor Becky shares, “The first thing you notice about Abram is his big smile and his genuine sweet demeanor. Cerebral palsy makes simple tasks more challenging, such as sitting, crawling, walking or picking up small objects. The movement of the horse helps activate the part of the brain that controls movement, which can improve balance and strength. Abram’s lessons integrate exercises and activities that help with trunk control, balance, fine & gross motor skills, core strength and stretching.

His mom adds, “He also has an 8 and 11-year-old brothers who adore him. Abram loves to “read” books, loves music - every time he hears music he starts “dancing”, by raising and moving his hands in the air. He also loves to sing. He loves the gardeners and rides his adaptive bike around the neighborhood in an attempt to find all the gardeners around. As you can see, he also has a great love for horses and riding them.

Our family loves being part of the Carousel Ranch family and we look forward to being here for many, many years to come.” 🐴❤️

09/20/2024

This year’s Heart of the West was the end of an era…15 years of working with Salt Creek Grill as the caterers for the event. However, more than that – 15 years of delicious food and friendships that will never be forgotten.

There are friends, there is family…and then there are friends who become family. That is certainly the case here with Greg and Chell Amsler, Tamra Levine and Jennifer Chadwick. It has been a labor of love and each of them have all given so much of themselves through the years to offer amazing meals, fabulous service and seriously discounted pricing – enabling us to raise the money needed to keep our programs going.

The simple words “thank you” will never be enough. You are and always will be a big part of the Carousel Ranch family. We appreciate all that you do and have done not only for Heart of the West, but as partners in our fundraising, hiring Ready to Work students and so much more. As one chapter closes, another begins – but you will always be an important part of our story.

09/17/2024

Dave Thornbury showing our guests his rope of tricks at our Heart of the West opening party! Thank you for getting the fun started 🐴✨

09/13/2024

“Volunteering is at the core of being a human. No one has made it through life without the help of someone else.” -Heather French Henry 🫱🏼‍🫲🏾
Thank you to our volunteers! Who really helped us to make this special night as successful as it was.

08/24/2024

Thank you Kaiser! We are so appreciative of all your help for our Heart of the West event! 🐴❤️

08/24/2024

08/23/2024

Thank you Logix! We are so appreciative of all your hard work and contribution’s to our Heart of the West event. 🐴❤️

08/23/2024

Thank you Missy and Matt Carter for the donut and coffee fuel! 1 day till HOTW!

08/20/2024