Travel is good for the soul, they say. And when travel involves horses? Well, thats good for everything. If youre dreaming of a riding vacation where you can relax into the peace of rolling ranch land peppered with oaks and pines and sprinkled with wildflowers, the song of rivers and the call of hawks, the creak of the saddle and the footfalls of your good ranch horse, the V6 Ranch is calling.Photo by Molly Virginia PhotographyLocated in Parkfield, the Cowboy Side of California, the V6 Ranch is owned and operated by the Varian family. A world away (but just four hours from L.A. or San Francisco), this 20,000-acre working cattle ranch is balm for the modern soul and medicine for horse lovers of all ages and abilities.Founding a Ranch In 1958, Jack Varian had just earned a degree in animal husbandry and married his sweetheart Zera, whom he called Zee. She grew up with horses in Southern California, and they were ready to start their life together as cattle ranchers.Their first ranch was on hardscrabble, unforgiving land. After working it for three years, by some miracle a man wanted to buy it and Jack and Zee happily sold.Two years later, they found a ranch of about 8,000 acres in the tiny town of Parkfield, nestled in the Cholame Valley in Central California. This land was completely different from their first ranch. Rich with life, water, and beauty, they soon understood why the indigenous Tachi Yokut inhabitants had named the area Cholame (the beautiful one).The six Varians (V6), Jack and Zee with their four children, in 1966.Jack and Zee called the place the V6 Ranch after their family of six, which included their kids Katherine, Lillian, John and Gregory. They acquired more acres over the years as they raised their family on the ranch. Then a funny thing happened.As all of us kids finished college and were looking to start our new lives, we all realized we wanted to come back to Parkfield, says son John Varian.The problem? Even though the ranch was now 20,000 acres, with the cattle operation running about 1,000 head per year, it provided income to only support Jack and Zee. The rest of the kids would need to find a different way to make a living if they wanted to live on the V6. Welcome to Parkfield, Pop. 18By the 1980s, the little town of Parkfield was pretty much gone. There were still a few homes and residents but no public buildings. The old bar had burned down in the 1970s. There was a one-room schoolhouse and a community hall, but the rest of the buildings were abandoned.I had some construction experience from doing side jobs in college, so Dad and I started rebuilding Parkfield in 1989, says John. We decided we needed a restaurant first, so we started by building the Parkfield Cafe. At first, it didnt have an indoor kitchen, so we began cooking outside on the pit for guests.The restaurant was finished as a log cabinthe only thing we knew how to buildand the Parkfield Cafe started to become a destination for barbeque and hearty meals. Once the restaurant took hold, the family decided to build a lodge so people could stay overnight.In 1991, they built the Parkfield Lodge, using lots of reclaimed and repurposed material. It has 10 unique rooms and a gathering room with a rock fireplace.Then we kept going and repurposed the old buildings in Parkfield, says John. Now the old town provides comfortable lodging for our guests. The original 1920s Shell Water Tower is a two-story suite. The local post office, which was dragged to its location in 1906 by a team of horses, is a two-bedroom suite. The spacious Cowboy Cabin, built by John and his ranch crew, offers privacy and rustic luxury.Repurposed old buildings in Parkfield lodge guests, including the original 1920s Shell Water Tower, a two-story suite. Photo by Robin FrenetteBring on the Cattle DrivesOne night in 1991, Jack and Zee went to town to see the movie City Slickers.As the family story goes, they watched as city folk ventured out to a cattle ranch for a vacation, John says. Driving home, they agreed. This was the next step for the V6.The 1991 movie City Slickers inspired the Varians to let guests join their cattle drives for a real working ranch experience. Photo by Lauren MaeveThe idea: Take what theyd started in Parkfield with the cafe and lodge and begin to expand what they offered. Why not offer the ranching work and the experiences they had every day and share it with people?Johns wife Barb created a brochure about their new cattle drives and started spreading the word.People came and had a great time, and it just went from there, says John. Then we continued to expand on what people wanted with different rides and experiences. We also knew that people with their own horses would love to come ride out on our working cattle ranch, so we built the Horse Camp to accommodate that. Saddle Up As a working cattle ranch, we have a lot of work to do and a lot of ranch land to cover, John explains. We love being able to share the work wed be doing anyway with people from all over the world.Today, the V6 offers a range of ways to experience ranch life during the needs of each season. All V6 Ranch experiences are open to riders aged 7 and older and all skill levels. The ranch hands and wranglers at the V6 are family or friends from local ranches, so youre in good hands. On many of the rides, you can bring your own horse.Heres what awaits you at the V6:Dude Ranch Weekends: Two and a half days of riding out on the ranch, hearty meals, a massage, lodging in one of the fun Parkfield town buildings, and a chance to unplug and unwind. These are great for families and riders who may be newer to horses.Cowboy Academy: Five-day working ranch experience where riders can improve their horsemanship and working knowledge of cattle and ranch skills, from gathering and sorting cattle to roping, ranch obstacles courses, and beautiful trail rides.Cowboy Academy 102: Five-day, corral-based ride focused on honing roping and cattle-sorting skills, including breakaway roping live cattle in the corral, roping a mechanical steer, learning how to read a cow, alley sorting, and more.The Cowboy Academies teach skills like roping and cattle sorting to eager guests. Photo by Lauren VarianWrangler Ride: With coaching from the V6 Ranch crew, explore the trails and learn a wide variety of ranch skills such as gathering, sorting, roping and negotiating ranch obstacles.Cattle Drives: For more than 30 years, the Varian family has invited guests four times a year to help gather and move cattle throughout the vast lands of the V6 Ranch. On each day of the four-day drive, riders will spend about six hours in the saddle gathering and moving cattle and then sleep under the stars.Pack Trip: New for 2024, join the Varian family to ride and camp out for four days on the most remote and beautiful parts of the V6.Meet the HorsesIn addition to the variety of riding and experiences, another thing thats special about the V6 is that there is no nose-to-tail trail riding.Our horses are ranch horses, not dude horses, because you cant gather cattle nose to tail, John explains. Youve got to spread out and be able to direct your horse wherever you need to go, and the same when youre in the arena sorting or at a branding.The horses that the guests ride are the same horses that the Varian crew uses when no guests are at the ranch. The horses are experienced, savvy and can navigate the hills, rivers, and draws of the V6 with confidence.With Quarter Horses, Paints, and Half-Arabians in their herd, its the horses cow sense, ranch work experience and intelligence, not their specific breed, that makes them great partners. Interesting to note is that Jack Varians cousin was Sheila Varian, the renowned Arabian breeder, trainer, and horsewoman. In 1961, she changed history when she became the first woman to win the Reined Cow Horse Open Championship at San Franciscos Cow Palace, and she did so on her Arabian mare, Ronteza.Sheila came out to the V6 quite often and brought her rock-solid Arabian ranch horses to sort, brand, and gather cattle in the roughest places on the ranch. Today, the V6 has a few Half-Arabians from Sheilas breeding program.Getting to the V6 RanchAs I like to say, Parkfield is in the middle of nowhere, but its four hours from everything, says John. The V6 is reachable by several airports: San Luis Obispo (SBP; 65 miles), Fresno (FAT; 110 miles), and San Jose (SJC; 175 miles). Its also a half-days drive from Los Angeles or San Francisco.Located in Parkfield, Calif., the cowboy side of California, the V6 Ranch is four hours from Los Angeles or San Francisco. Photo by Lauren VarianAnother Place and Time If the whisper of a simpler time and the distant echo of hoofbeats is calling to you, take a trip to the V6 Ranch. Every member of the Varian family will welcome you to relax and enjoy, and the ranch horses will eagerly join you as you discover the beautiful one.For more information on visiting V6 Ranch in Parkfield, Calif., visit v6ranch.com. If a ride youre interested in is booked, add yourself to the waitlist. Last-minute cancellations often open up.This article about the V6 Ranch appeared in the October 2024 issue of Horse Illustratedmagazine.Click here to subscribe!The post Visit the V6 Ranch appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

I have finally completed a project that I dreamed up way back in 2010, when the internet was still in its childhood. Or maybe its early 20s, honestly Im not exactly sure how long Al Gores internet has been around. At this point, I think Internet may be middle aged.But regardless of all that, Ive had this dream for a really long time, but I never quite had the technical skills to pull it off. But, Ive worked really really hard, and so Im pleased to finally announce:Equine TimeLineWhich you already were aware of, because you likely saw the title of this post.Equinetimeline.comEquinetimeline.comEquinetimeline.com(Ive heard the appropriate amount of times to repeat something is three.)I build a website to track horses. You could think of it like a horse CarFax. Its about time there was a way to track the actual history of horses, instead of just little blurbs written by horse sellers. Its currently in its beta mode, as I make changes, so please go check it out, make a profile, create a horse, start tracking. If you could do just one thing for me, the horse blogger youve maybe been following for years, or maybe this is the first thing youve ever seen from me, but just this one thing, please do this. I need feedback in order to continue to improve it. I might think its the bees knees, but there could be some obvious flaw that my pea brain isnt seeing, and feedback would be greatly appreciated. Plus, its going to be super useful, and now Im going to detail all the ways its super useful, and it should be a standard in the horse industry.Now lets get started.A Complete Timeline of Every HorseMy main goal a complete history of every horse. Users enter in horse information to build up the history. Recording shows is an obvious one, but Im talking about deeper than that. What about meaningful training sessions? Or the clinics you took him to? All of the trail rides hes been on? Or times your horse babysat your little niece, and you just know hed be perfect for a family with kids. These are all meaningful events.Users can list horses for sale, and that history is the sale ad. How easy is that? People can literally just check out the history of the horse and decide if its right for them.When the horse sells, that record transfers to the new owner. The new owner will now have the history of the horse and be able to keep adding on to it. There will never be any confusion of what the horse knows or doesnt know, or where the horse has been. Its proof that your horse is what youre saying it is. Theres no need to wonder what kind of treatment or training that horse had prior, because its all written down.Keep Track of Former HorsesOne of the big reasons I made this is because its very sad when you sell a horse, and then it just disappears into the metaphorical abyss, and you never know what happened to it. Theres a whole group on facebook devoted to just finding horses people used to own. Its really sad! Horses have the disadvantage of being both a pet, and livestock. So youre supposed to be able to sell them and move on, but they are pets. You cant help but wonder what happened to a pet you loved. Often times people dont even want to sell but they are forced to. Its not fair you wont be able to see the life of that horse.Equine TimeLine fixes that. Horse is attached to your profile for life. Youll never have to wonder what happened.Pedigree ResearchWouldnt it be cool if we could click on a stallion, and see every one of their offspring, with lots of details of what they are accomplishing, including the shows they are going to, what they are doing, how training is going, what they looked like, etc. I think so. Itd be super cool.So that should be a thing. And thats why I created it. As people create horses on the site, they can all be linked to each other, creating clickable pedigrees, with tons of valuable information. It can help breeding programs to see all what all the horses they bred are doing, it can help those thinking about breeding, it can help those who want to check out pedigrees before they purchase a horse.Equine TimeLine for checking out entire bloodlines.Find Horses you Used to OwnWhat about the horse you owned years ago that seems to have vanished off the face of the earth? Now theres a centralized place to ask for information about your former partner. My goal is to connect horses and people, even if its been years.Checking Out Potential TrainersI dont want to sound like a negative nancy or anything, but Ive been burned before. Its very easy to become a horse trainer in the US, all you have to do is literally call yourself a horse trainer. But the truth is, many of these people are not qualified. We only have their own words to go on.So what if we could look at their timeline and see what theyve accomplished? We could figure out if what theyve done aligns with the type of trainer we are looking for. Its not just a timeline for horses, its a timeline for horse professionals. Its a resume to help clients decide if they want to work with certain people.Equine TimeLine for checking out potential trainers.This is just an overview of how this website could help out the horse community. Im going to keep talking about it though! Im going to keep making updates and perfecting this site because I really think it would be valuable to all of us. Its eventually going to turn into an app, either when I figure out the coding, or I hire someone to do it.So please check it out, give me your thoughts, and lets make it happen.EquineTimeLine.comPlease send any feedback to courtneymarshallick@gmail.comThank you!The post Equine TimeLine appeared first on An Equestrian Life.

On Aug. 18, a 31-year-old Quarter Horse gelding in Shiawasee County, Michigan, tested positive for strangles. The horse developed clinical signs on Aug. 13, including fever, dysphagia, and nasal discharge. He is now recovering.EDCC Health Watch is an Equine Network marketing program that utilizes information from the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) to create and disseminate verified equine disease reports. TheEDCCis an independent nonprofit organization that is supported by industry donations in order to provide open access to infectious disease information.About StranglesStranglesin horses is an infection caused byStreptococcus equisubspeciesequiand spread through direct contact with other equids or contaminated surfaces. Horses that arent showing clinical signs can harbor and spread the bacteria, and recovered horses remain contagious for at least six weeks, with the potential to cause outbreaks long-term.Infected horses can exhibit a variety of clinical signs:FeverSwollen and/or abscessed lymph nodesNasal dischargeCoughing or wheezingMuscle swellingDifficulty swallowingVeterinarians diagnose horses using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing with either a nasal swab, wash, or an abscess sample, and they treat most cases based on clinical signs, implementing antibiotics for severe cases. Overuse of antibiotics can prevent an infected horse from developing immunity. Most horses make a full recovery in three to four weeks.A vaccine is available but not always effective. Biosecurity measures of quarantining new horses at a facility and maintaining high standards of hygiene and disinfecting surfaces can helplower the risk of outbreakorcontain one when it occurs.

The second leg of the 3 & 4 year old filly loose jumping took place in Kernans Equestrian Centre on the 21st of August. The loose jumping was judged by Dean Rogan and Vincent Burton. The 3-year-olds were first into the ring. This was won by Nigel Hill with his filly by Imnotafraid Fortuna (KWPN) out of Dramatically Different (ISH) by Ricardo Z (ZANG), bred by Nigel & Rhonda Hill. Second place was Brian Hutchinsons SVS Temptation CF (ISH), by Calvador Z (ZANG) out of SVS Attraction (ISH) by Air Jordan Z (OLD) bred by owner Brian Hutchinson.Unnamed (ISH) by Imnotafraid Fortuna (KWPN) out of Dramatically Different (ISH) by Ricardo Z (ZANG), bred by Nigel & Rhonda Hill. Owner Nigel Hill.The four-year-olds was the last class of the day. This was won by The Wood Studs filly Ravensdale Casino Royale (ISH), bred by Eamon McArdle, by Cascari (HOLST) out of Calendi (ISH), by Ars Vivendi (HOLST). Second place was won by Cornascriebe Last Diamond (ISH), owned and bred by Carol Armstrong. The filly is by Orestus (KWPN), out of Cornascriebe Diamond (WNTR), by Diamond Serpent (ISH).The Wood Studs filly Ravensdale Casino Royale (ISH), bred by Eamon McArdle, by Cascari (HOLST) out of Calendi (ISH), by Ars Vivendi (HOLST)3 & 4 Year Old Filly Loose Jumping is funded under National Breeding Services, by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine.The post Loose Jumping Results: Leg 2 appeared first on .