“Over the last year, we really began to change the direction of Creek Hollow Ranch,” explains Colleen Burman, owner and now full time manager of Creek Hollow Ranch in San Diego County’s Ramona. “When I bought the land and began to build in 2000 we were primarily a Hanoverian and Welsh pony breeding facility. Now we are trying to refocus and look at what we do best, which is training, boarding and events.”
In the past year Colleen had been slowly overhauling all of Creek Hollow, from barns to paddocks, in an attempt to offer boarders and potential trainers “something totally different.” She just added a new 150’ x 300’ western arena which will be large enough to hold every event from western pleasure and reining to bulldogging and team penning.
Many of Creek Hollow’s existing arenas were revamped and reshaped, including their outside dressage court. Colleen hopes this will allow all the rings to be multipurpose, capable of holding everything from jumping lessons to dressage and western events. One arena also includes a 14’ x 225’ free jump shoot which can be set up for both young horse training and breed inspections which require a session of free jumping for mare and stallion performance tests. However, Colleen says that the existing 120’ x 250’ indoor arena and 80’ x 100’ smaller covered arena are still everyone’s favorites, but the two 60’ round pens and smaller 50’ round pen also continue to get a lot of use.
“We have a great facility with lots of space, set in a wonderful area,” explains Colleen. “What we are doing now is just trying to make things more user-friendly and way more versatile. We have added more tack room space and more cross-ties and wash racks that are covered and out of the sun and rain.”
Currently Colleen is in the process of building an additional 20-stall barn and adding pasture space. “There has been so much interest that even with the existing 40 stalls, ranging from pipe corrals, mare motels to barns and the 60 horses boarded in pasture, creating additional barn and pasture space has become imperative,” explains Colleen.
Each new stall will have a 12’ x 20’ attached run-out corral and the barn will have hot and cold running water for wash stalls and a tack room. While the run-out corrals are by no means necessary, as Creek Hollow is set on over 350 acres and turn out space is plentiful, Colleen says she likes her horses to have a little extra room and this is just one of many amenities she is adding to Creek Hollow to make both horses and riders more comfortable.
Along with making the facility more versatile, Colleen is interested in expanding the training disciplines offered at the ranch and is seeking to add an independent western trainer and a jumping or event trainer to round out the Creek Hollow team. “Dressage trainer, Sheri Heiar and hunter/jumper trainer, Jennifer Willson, are both running extremely successful businesses from the ranch. We have plenty of room and would love to be able to offer training and lessons in all disciplines.”
“My vision has always been to enrich lives through horse-human interaction,” says Colleen. “We are not a high pressure show barn. We are open to all disciplines. If you want to train and show your horse to Grand Prix, that’s great, but if you just want to trail ride, that’s fine too. We are very easy going. I just want everyone to come and have a good time.”
A World of Opportunity
While Creek Hollow undergoes its facelift, it will continue hosting its regular dressage series and clinics, including classical dressage clinics with Paul Belasik, Chris Irwin horsemanship clinics and Equine Assisted Personal Development (EAPD) workshops. Their next show will be the Summer Fun Dressage and USDF Breed Show on June 23-24, followed by the July Jubilee Dressage and USDF Breed show on July 21-22.
Though Colleen doesn’t plan on organizing many more clinics herself, the facility is always available for rent to individuals and/or organizations that would like to host a clinic, show or event. “Creek Hollow Ranch has a very relaxed and peaceful atmosphere to it. Everyone that comes by says how great it is to visit and how relaxed they feel afterward.”
In addition to providing a first-class facility for horse training and boarding, shows and clinics, Colleen has expanded her operation to offer the beauty of Creek Hollow for company and corporate bashes, birthday parties, weddings and other events.
“After talking with Judy Beckett, who runs Cornerstone Therapeutic Riding Center, housed at Creek Hollow, we thought ‘wouldn’t it be fun to open up Creek Hollow for more than just horse events?’ We have this wonderful picnic area shaded by oaks with a BBQ and bathrooms that we are now offering for rent. People can rent it for family reunions, parties and weddings. We have already had a fantastic response and are very excited about it.”
For more information on Creek Hollow Ranch call 760-789-4875
or visit them online at www.creekhollowranch.com. For more show information, you can visit their show website at www.chrdressage.net.