It
all became quite clear recently--
-- how it all got started.
Denise’s parents sent a picture of her at age
two, proudly perched on a rocking horse with a very
contented look on her face. It was obvious from this
early photo that horses were going to be a very big
part of her life.
MooseVine Ranch,
the name derived from the combination of Denise’s
fetish with moose (what is it with hoofed mammals?)
and Craig’s occupation as a winemaker, has
gone through many changes over the years.
It started with a halter purchased by a teenage girl with dreams of someday
having a horse to put it on. At one point MooseVine Ranch owned two horses
and no saddles. A year later, they owned three saddles and no horses. Hey,
they were new at this ranch thing. Unfortunately, Denise never did get to use
that original halter. It turns out that the halter was for a draft horse and
it never fit any of the horses they had. It is now being used by Queenie, a
Clydesdale living in Western New York. Maybe they should have kept it as it
would probably fit the moose that Denise is yearning to have as a pet.
Denise and Craig purchased their first property for MooseVine Ranch near the
Town of Fair Play, California (really, this name is not made up) in 1997. Located
in the Sierra Foothills at an elevation of 2500 feet with a great westerly
view, it was a modest five acres. One thing they've learned is that you can
never have too much land or too many horses (at least that's what Denise has
convinced Craig).
Presently, they own (or is it, are owned by?) four Peruvian Paso Horses and
one Tennessee Walking/Spotted Saddle Horse.
El Puma Azabache (Puma) is their ranch stallion, who along with Poco Oso Pardo
LP (Pete) a gelding, travel around on the show circuit. Don’t want to
bore you with the details, but they have done quite well over the years. Luz
de Luna JC (PJ), a gelding, is the joker of the group. If there is trouble
to be found or a gate to be opened -- he's your man. Santa Maria de Nanay (Dot),
a mare, is truly the matriarch of the bunch. Gosh, a stallion and a mare at
the same ranch -- wanna bet that they'll soon be hearing the pitter-pat of
little hooves! The newest addition to MooseVine Ranch, is a TWH/SSH mare named
Magic’s Cloudy Day (Chloe), arrived in 2004.
Now fast forward to 2007, huge and exciting changes for everyone at MooseVine
Ranch which has relocated to Southern California. Craig, the award winning
winemaker had a great opportunity to make wine at Mount Palomar Winery in Temecula
Valley. They found a lovely 5 acre piece of property to buy in the friendly
town of Anza. A dream finally realized for Denise here too. She’s always
wanted to have an arena, and a professional built barn that houses their horses,
well its happened! In the future MVR plans to host events with lots of their
clinician friends….stay tuned for more exciting news……
