|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 The not-so-silent, "silent"
partner of the ranch is M.E. (Bunny) Eastveld, a city girl with a passion for horses. An RN, working and living
in the city of Winnipeg, Bunny still found time to go out to the ranch and ride.
As a teenager
she rode extensively until she began to have problems with her knees. Much to her disappointment she had to curtail many of
her athletic activities. (Including riding.)
In 1992, twenty years after giving up riding, Bunny decided it was
time to try again. She found out, to her surprise, that riding horses was excellent physiotherapy for her deteriorating
knee condition.
She started out slowly, riding quiet horses at Art Butler's Ranch, but soon found that she was
part-boarding a greenbroke, three year old horse, named Justin. It was not too long before she was full-boarding Justin
and eventually in 1994 she bought him outright from Art. (Justin is a grade horse: a Standardbred/quarterhorse cross).
In 1994 Les returned to the ranch during the hay and straw season. Bunny and Les developed a friendship
and began to discuss the fate of the ranch. It was clear that Art would not be able to continue running the Ranch on
his own and that eventually Art would not be around to run the ranch, so came the question of what would happen to the ranch
and the horses?
They began to formulate a plan to carry on Art's family tradition of breaking and training horses
and ponies, teaching people how to ride "properly" (Art's way), continue with the boarding stable, and try to keep
boarding costs down.
For Arts philosophy was:
"the working person should be able to enjoy horses
too, not just the wealthy" Bunny and Les moved out to the ranch
in 1998, and bought the ranch in 2000.
|
|
|
| Don't try this at home! |
|
| The "Art Butler Dismount" |
Justin is the first horse Bunny
ever owned and trained, with lots of reading, hard work and advice from Art. (We have a saying at the ranch: "What Art don't
know about horses ain't worth knowing.")
This type of dismount, named after Art, could be dangerous, but at LB Ranch,
we teach our horses good ground manners. Tell him whoa, drop the lines, and he stands ground tied. Then he just waits
for you to get off, however you want to.
Our horses are not allowed to kick or bite, either, but they are our
friends, and willingly accept what we are doing with them. Such is the legacy of Art Butler's way of breaking and training
a horse. Praise and rubs when they're good, discipline to "fit the crime" when they're bad.
We also follow
a rule of thumb: Hit a horse once is discipline, (you have 3 seconds to react). Hit a horse more than once, is abuse.
|
|
|
info@lbranch.net
LB Ranch:
"The place where horses can BE horses!"
For information regarding boarding your horse at LB Ranch,
please call us at: (204) 633-9100
LB Ranch* Box 26D RR2* Winnipeg, Manitoba * Canada*
R3C 2E6 *(204) 633-9100
Site designed by CyrabGraphics
|
|
|
|
