It’s gorgeous in the Southern Minneapolis Metro Area for a good part of the year. With the exception of spring flooding that occasionally happens but hey … the ranch is right next to a river … you gotta expect water.
You’ll love our stable of horses and the horse trails are magnificient! You’ll really enjoy the ride!
We invite you to set up a time to saddle up with family, friends and loved ones! Summer Hours: Monday – Friday 10am-7pm • Saturday & Sunday 10am-6pm
We look forward to seeing you and we would suggest making reservations ahead of time by calling our reservation line: 952-361-3361. Happy Trails!
This is a deeply moving, truly one-of-a-kind story of a family willing to go to the ends of the earth to help their son’s autism, and of a boy learning to connect with the world for the first time. Rowan Isaacson. THE HORSE BOY, a film by Michel Orion Scott and Rupert Isaacson.
Share Your Horse Videos Now you can share your videos right on Horse Channel and browse through other user-submitted horse videos. You’ll earn 1,000 Club Horse points every week when you upload a video!
Once you’re up in the saddle, you’ll experience the beauty of manicured trails and the breathtaking Minnesota River Valley.
Our seasoned trail guides and ranch hands do whatever is necessary to ensure your safety and complete satisfaction. We have the right horse to match your riding ability.
Reservations for Horseback Riding and Group Trail Rides can be made by phone. CALL 952-361-3361
If you want a stable friendship, get a horse.
River Valley Horse Ranch is OPEN for trail rides on the weekends through April…10am to dusk…grab the family, office staff or group members and celebrate the coming of spring on horseback in the beautiful Minnesota River Valley.
Some you may already know and some maybe new to you. Horses are stranger than they look.
Here’s to learning something new today.
1. Leonardo da Vinci liked to draw horses.
2. An adult horse’s brain weights 22 oz, about half that of a human.
3. Horses can not vomit.
4. The first cloned horse was a Haflinger mare in Italy in 2003.
5. Until the 1960’s Dartmoor ponies were used to escort prisoners from local prisons while they were on outside duties.
6. The word chivalry comes from cheval the French word for horse.
7. Chariot racing was the first Olympic sport in 680 B.C.
8. The Dubai World Cup is 6 million dollars, the richest horse race purse in the world.
9. Horses like sweet flavors and will usually reject anything sour or bitter.
10. Like a fingerprint, every zebra has a unique stripe pattern.
11. To get an official measurement of a horses height, they must be measured without shoes.
12. Horses drink at least 25 gallons of water a day (more in hotter climates).
13. Horses teeth never stop growing.
14. Ragweed is responsible for more horse deaths than most other toxic plants.
15. It takes 9-12 months to re-grow an entire horse hoof.
16. Horses have been found in cave paintings that date back to around 15000 B.C.
17. You can tell if a horse is cold by feeling behind their ears. If that area is cold, so is the horse.
18. Mown grass cuttings can cause colic in horses.
19. Horses have 16 muscles in each ear, allowing them to rotate their ears 180 degrees.
20. According to Arabian folklore chestnut horses are the fastest and bravest of all colors.
21. Ponies live longer than horses and can live well into their 50’s.
22. The four horses of the apocalypse are said to signify the end of the world; conquest on a white horse, famine on a black horse, war on a red horse and plague on a pale horse.
23. A horse’s knee joint is the equivalent to a human wrist, and their hock joint is equivalent to the human ankle.
24. The gestation period for a mare is 11 months, for a female donkey it is 12 months.
25. Horses with pink skin can get a sunburn.
26. A small indent in a horses skin (usually on the neck or shoulder) is called a prophet’s mark and is considered good luck.
27. Mongolian tribes were the first to domesticate the horse, about 5000 years ago.
28. Legend has it that the Arabian horse was created by Allah, ‘out of a handful of the southern wind‘.
29. Horses have a great long term memory, (especially for places they were spooked).
30. The oldest horse on record lived to the age of 62 and died in 1822.
31. Horses thrive on routine, especially when it comes to food.
32. Giant white horses are carved in chalk on several hillsides in England. Some date back hundreds of years – folklore says that when King Arthur of he Round Table returns to the throne, one of the chalk horses would get up and dance.
33. The best way to determine the age of a horse is by examining it’s teeth.
34. You can tell if a horse is dehydrated by pinching their skin, if it takes time for the skin to return from the pinch, they need water.
35. A horses stomach should always make gurgling noises, an absence of them can mean colic.
36. If a horse has a red ribbon on it’s tail, it kicks.
37. Horses have 7 common blood types.
38. The largest horse museum in the world is the International Museum of the Horse in Kentucky.
39. In Greek mythology Apollo delivered the sun and the moon to the sky every day in his horse drawn chariot
40. Horses are social animals and will get lonely if kept alone.
41. Donkeys have been known to live 35-40 years.
42. Arabian horses have one fewer vertebrae and one less rib than other breeds.
43. When cantering, a horse takes a breath with every stride.
44. Horses will mourn the passing of a companion.
45. All horses have parasites in their stomach and intestines in small quantities, they only become a problem if the count builds up.
If you’re already experiencing cabin fever and need an inexpensive weekend get away…that is only a short car ride away, you’ll want to check out all the southern metro has to offer!
There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man. ~Winston Churchill
Just recently, the southern Minneapolis metro area lost one of our local horse ranches. It will be sorely missed by visitors to our beautiful southern Minnesota landscape.
Unfortunately, hourly horseback riding and guided trail rides are becoming more difficult to find!
River Valley Horse Ranch is one of the few places left in Minnesota, that offers hourly horseback riding, trail rides, horseback riding events and pasture horse boarding.
While searching for horseback riding stables and horse rentals throughout the state, we came across a few links that might be helpful for you in your travels.
We hope as the New Year approaches you find the time to get back up on the saddle again! River Valley Horse Ranch is open weekends…10am-dusk….every weekend through April 2010.
Contact us to learn more….Reservation Line 952-361-3361
Gene Autry’s version of this song is one of the most popular of the season. We thought it would be fun to get into the spirit of the season to share….
The True Story of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeerwith you.
A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night.
His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bobs wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn’t understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad’s eyes and asked, “Why isn’t Mommy just like everybody else’s Mommy?” Bob’s jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob’s life. Life always had to be different for Bob.
Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he’d rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression.
Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn’s bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.
Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn’t even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn’t buy a gift, he was determined a make one – a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his ow n mind and told the animal’s story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May create was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he create was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn’t end there….
The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print,_ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph.
That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.
In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn’t end there either.
Bob’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of “White Christmas.”
The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn’t so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
River Valley Horse Ranch is Open Weekends through April 10am-Dusk
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