Hi everyone, greetings from Chisholm Trail Rides. I wanted to update you from the trail. We've been having a great winter, and having a lot of fun riding the trails. and learning to ride here! We wanted to give everyone a heads up on our Winter/Spring specials, and let you know about some of the programs we're running. We want to introduce ourselves.
Our Specials:
1 hour riding/$40
2 hours Lake ride/$69 person
3 hours of lessons/$99 person
We find couples love our 2 hour ride, particularly at sunset! We are by appointment to be able to ensure a personalized experience. We ride open, long distance trail, at the walk, trot, or canter. We want our riders to be able to ride at their preferred pace and level. We cater to both beginner and experienced riders, with multiple breeds and training levels of our horses. Our goal is to give an individual riding experience, as if a client owned their own horse, without the time, expense, and heavy emotional commitment, ownership requires. This goal allows our clients to improve their riding skills, and not have to invest in multiple horses. We have a lot of seasoned riders that want to enjoy a highly trained, advanced level horse, but not own one at the moment. We also specialize in helping riders that have had a traumatic riding experience, fall in love with riding again, on extremely well minded horses.
Our woman and moms enjoy the "me time" riding outside the arena provides. Many women, and adults, start with learning to ride in a lesson atmosphere, and soon progress to trail riding at Chisholm Trail Rides.
We want our riders to learn how to ride in multiple environments, and different horses. We work hard to ensure both adults and children truly learn how to ride, and care for a horse, in our lesson program. We are happy to teach saddling, and horse care, but we also want our clients to have a good amount of saddle time to learn and practice concepts. We do not take up the first 30-40 minutes of each lesson saddling, leaving a small amount of time to learn, and making you spend more hard earned money on additional lessons. When children are in our lesson program, on trail lessons, parents, and Grandparents are always invited on the trail ride complementary for the first 3 rides, and at a significant discount any rides after. We want our parents to enjoy an activity, they can develop a love and life long bond, together with their children.
Our lessons are taught both in the arena, and out on trail. Once a concept is learned in the arena, it's out to open trail to practice!
What we don't do or offer. We don't do "passenger riding". Whether it's a lesson horse that has done nothing but thousands of the same circles in the arena, or a follow the leader trail horse, we want our riders to truly ride, not just be a passenger.
We have a few programs that are near and dear to our heart. It's our way of saying thank you, and letting important people know we are thinking of them.
We have a Military Program that let's all active duty military ride for free. Any soldiers in the wounded warrior program, even on the wounded warrior wait list, ride, or interact with the horses free. We're well aware of how hard it is for the families that are waiting on their loved ones, in the military. Whether they're in training, deployed, or just waiting on that inevitable deployment date, we want them to know we understand.
This is why our military family discount of 10% applies to spouses, children, and parents. When my son went into the Army, my heart begged with fervor to keep him safe!
For our spouses and children that have made the ultimate sacrifice in the last year, we encourage them to contact us, so that we can tailor a program to help them through. Horses intuitively seem to know when we are emotionally hurt, through their own special magic, they bring a modicum of healing.
With our Police and Fire Program, we value our brave men and women that protect us on the home front as well. Full time active duty police and fire department ride free. We have the same respect for their families waiting for their loved ones to come home safe, so we offer the same 10% discount.
We have a true belief that it is our duty to help our nations future of children get a solid start. We all know the foster system children have a hard struggle ahead of them. Teenagers stuck in the system have a very small chance of finding a future permanent home. They know that at 18 they're going to be thrown into the world to sink or swim....without a life jacket. They will have a small to non existent support system, and virtually no "safety net". Is it any wonder they're angry, at risk for running away, or ruining their lives through a grievous choice?
We sponsor foster children in our Foster Children Program. We believe that the horses can help ground these children. They give the children something to look forward to, but most of all, help them emotionally too. They give them an anchor to help ground them.
We're not fancy, we don't have a fancy barn; we're even working off a pretty small property. Most of our magic happens at the arena, or out on the 1000 acres that sits behind us. We also believe that a horse that is allowed to be a horse, by being in a field, and having 24/7 access to forage, makes a happy, willing, equine partner. We are fastidious about our maintenance of our horses here at Chisholm trail rides. We believe a horse has to have their physical needs met, and feel good, to allow them to properly communicate with their rider. We also ride every single horse we own ourselves, regularly. This allows us to keep good training on them for our riders, and know each horse. Our horses are selected for their steady disposition in the arena, out on trail, or at a competition.
I'm sure most people have heard that horses can be therapeutic, although some don't realize this can occur without them being in a therapeutic equine program. There was a Montana ranch, that let soldiers that were on the wait list for PTSD, ride and work with the horses. There was no therapy program, just regular horse interaction. When the soldiers were re tested going into the program, they tested 30%-50% better. Two of these former soldiers took off on a ride from Mexico to Canada, to raise awareness for this idea, it worked, we saw it.
We want the same principle to help our foster children too. Horses are prey animals, they are like emotional barometers. They engage with us at our base. They encourage us to gain control and leadership skills, they open our hearts.
We want to offer all our riders to experience these benefits, without having the cost outweigh the time. We know that getting an animal that is a 20+ year commitment is not for everyone. We also know that these beautiful creatures find a place in our hearts, that make them family. We don't want our less seasoned riders to have to own a horse that they will out grow. This puts them in a position of having to choose to say goodbye to a cherished family member, or not advance in their passion. At Chisholm trail rides, our riders can advance their skills through different levels of horses, and still see their previous equine friends.
We find that we ride out a lot of couples. They find they enjoy our well minded equine pals as a great couple activity. Couples also enjoy celebrating birthdays and Anniversaries riding trail; since we're BYOB, a bottle of wine can be enjoyed while coming back to an amazing sunset.
Almost all of our children have parents that used to ride. Our parents love that they can ride out with their children on trail. Many times our parents didn't realize they could create a lifelong bond with their child in an after school activity. We also have our moms that enjoy their own "me time" with us. It's a great way take care of themselves, helping them be a spectacular parent!
Our corporate clients love us as a way to de-stress. We ride a little piece of America that brings us back to our roots, and can remind us of simpler times. It's very relaxing to ride where one is seeing what our country was founded on doing. It's also exhilarating to ride a 1000lb partner with the wind whipping through ones hair, hooves pounding, just you, and your horse, for that moment in time; it's what I call mind candy.
We are currently waiting to find our way to a 50 acre ranch we have found. It will allow us to help more people reach their aspirations, including our more seasoned riders board a horse and continue their journey with us. We still won't have a fancy barn, just what we, the clients, and the horses need. We may be a simple establishment, but we are mighty in giving an authentic experience to our riders, caring about their love for the sport, the horse, and helping to reach needs and dreams.
No matter what one's reason for riding is, one's goal, one's dream, Chisholm trail rides was established to help future riders achieve it! We want to thank, give back, and give every walk of life the chance to truly ride! Thanks Everyone, we've been blessed with amazing clients, and hope that we can help you too. Laura
ps. You can find us at http://www.Chisholmtrailrides.com