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Texas Agriculture Archive

May 3, 2002

Getting horse savvy at
Little Bear Ranch

By Mike Barnett
Editor

A horse is only as good as its rider, those in the know say. Spend tons of money training a horse without instruction for an inexperienced rider, you usually end up with an expensive, mediocre horse.

"A very well trained horse and a very novice rider, the horse is just going to regress to the level of the rider," says Dr. Kelly Riccitelli, co-manager of the horse operation of Little Bear Ranch with her husband, Rob. "Pretty soon you have a horse that won't do anything for them. The horse keeps trying to do the right things. The rider doesn't recognize the horse is doing the right things. The horse doesn't get rewarded and gets frustrated. Pretty soon the rider and the horse are frustrated because they don't understand each other. The rider is not going to progress to the level of the horse unless they get some consistent instruction."

Welcome to Little Bear Ranch, owned by former high-tech guru Errol Williams and his wife, Diane.

The Williams traded in the fast pace and traffic jams of Austin a couple of years ago for a home in the serene, rolling hills along Patterson Creek, 12 miles north of Lampasas.

"I've always wanted a ranch, or thought I did," Errol, who recently sold a video conference equipment business he developed with partners, says. "I'm not from a ranching family...strictly high-tech. But I'm learning fast. We've made a lot of mistakes. I'll probably make a lot more but I think we're slowly getting on the right track."

Errol, not blinded by knowledge of traditional agricultural practices in this Central Texas area, is not afraid to venture into unknown areas. Sure he runs cows on his 2,300 acres, comprised of the six ranches he purchased. But, under the guidance of general manager Richard Wolfe, he has planted several hundred acres of Eastern Gamma and WW B Dahl Old World Bluestem, which he grows for seed. And then there's the horse operation.

Horses, of course

One of the ranches Errol purchased was a former thoroughbred operation, highly improved with box stalls, paddocks, training pens, and breeding and foaling barns.

"It was either shut the place down or try to do something with it," Errol says. "We decided we would like the ranch to be known for its educational programs. That got us excited and that's when we really go into this."

Enter Rob and Kelly.

One of Rob's first jobs was the design and construction of a 113 foot X 270 foot covered arena, equipped for rodeos, ropings and shows. It also has a large concession stand, office and restrooms with showers. Seating capacity is currently 600, with room to grow.

"We tried to put in an arena to accomplish what we're trying to do as far as schools and events," Rob, who has over 35 years experience managing horse farms, competitive event centers, and a rodeo school in California and Texas, says. "We have bucking chutes, we have roping boxes. We have some Friday night bull riding. We have some professional rodeos scheduled. So far everybody that comes likes the way the arena's set up."

With the addition of the state-of-the-art arena, Errol says the horse operation is finally starting to progress.

"The arena may be our bread and butter short-term for the horse operation, but we want to start stressing education now that we have some breathing room," he says.

Teaching comes naturally for Kelly. She has over 20 years of equine science education experience and has fitted, trained and shown horses for over 30 years. In addition she managed the Texas A&M Horse Center for five years, managed the largest Paint Horse breeding operation in the world, and was an instructor at the Texas A&M horse breeding schools for 10 years.

Although the educational aspect of the horse operation is still in development, this accomplished horsewoman has some definite ideas.

One big focus will be on the novice horseman, who Kelly says she enjoys helping most.

"A novice horseman that goes to a lot of trainers, they can't even speak the same language," she says. "Here is a place they can come and get their basics. It's kind of like their general education. Before they start majoring in something they come here and get their general education so they can decide what they want to major in.

"Say someone has bought a horse and they really don't know if they're interested in roping or if they want to show the horse, or if they just want to trail ride, or whatever," Kelly continues. "They can come here and learn basic skills and not feel like they're being pushed in one direction or another."

To that end, Kelly is in the process of developing horsemanship classes that fit the skill level of the rider.

"I have put down a list of skills from A to Z that you need to know if you're going to be successful with horses," Kelly says. "What the plan is is to have different levels of horsemanship. People can look at that basic menu of skills and decide, `Well, I already know everything here at Level 1. I'll start at Level 2 or 3 or so forth.' That's what we want to end up with."

Some of those ideas are incorporated in the Little Bear Ranch Riding Adventure Program, which was kicked off in the fall of 2001.

"The program guides guests in making maximum progress with the most fun, gaining the highest degree of confidence in the shortest time with the least amount of frustration," a promotional brochure says.

The Riding Adventure Program is structured in five parts, including:

•The rider, where goals, opportunities and assessment of present knowledge and skills are explored.

•The horse, which may belong to the guest or can be leased from Little Bear Ranch.

•The learning plan, where guests choose instruction in horse behavior, riding skills, competitive class training or horse care.

•Assessment of the guests' knowledge and skills followed by Little Bear Ranch recognition of that knowledge and skill.

•The future, where goals are revised on progress and knowledge of new opportunities.

But flexibility is also key to the Little Bear educational program. Designer programs are offered for individuals or families that might have a particular problem with a horse, or want to learn the basics of horsemanship as a family adventure.

"We also have people that call us that want to design sessions to deal with problems they're having with their horse," Kelly says. "So we're very flexible in that people can come and spend an hour or a day or a week and get one-on-one help if that's what they feel they need.

"I also do a lot of family lessons. It might be a father and his two daughters—I have a family like that. They all ride together. It's a time they can come together, doing things, and also be learning. The father's learning along with the kids. He didn't have formal instruction before."

Other educational events include summer horse camps, specialty discipline clinics such as working cowhorse, barrel racing and team roping, and 4-H, FFA and other youth group support programs.

A full service facility

Little Bear Ranch also offers a full range of services for horsemen, including boarding horses both short- and long-term, renting the arena for individuals by the hour or for special events, fitting horses for sale, standing stallions for other owners, breeding mares, and holding breeding seminars.

Other services include riding horses for lease by the month, quarter or year, trail riding and ranch outings that include campfire meals, horseback riding, music, hiking, fishing and swimming.

But the reputation they strive for, both Errol and Kelly agree, is a top notch equine education facility.

"I'd like for it to be a place people think of if they want to go somewhere with their horse, or just get away for a few days and have a good time and learn something while they're at it," Errol says. "We want to be a friendly place, a place where people can come with their horse."

"One of the best compliments we've received," Kelly adds, "is from a lady who says she always feels that she can't come here and leave without more knowledge than she came with.

"There are a lot of very, very highly skilled horsemen," she continues. "But I think there's a lack of skilled teachers. Hopefully we can combine those things."