The Windy Ridge Ranch

Welcome to the Windy Ridge Ranch
30 Years of Teaching and Riding

The Windy Ridge Ranch, east of St. Paul in Woodbury, Minnesota, offers group horseback riding lessons, a leasing program, and other fun riding activities for our students. WRR is home to 50 well-mannered schooling horses. Learn more about the ranch.

Group Riding Lessons

Focus is on solid equitation skills and horsemanship as well as having fun with horses. We offer regularly-scheduled group lessons for beginners to advanced riders for ages 9 to adult. We also have twice-monthly "Pee Wee" lessons for ages 7-11. Group lessons may include English or Western equitation, jumping, dressage, games, horsemanship, and trail riding (for WRR students only). Feel free to visit one of our lessons. Learn more about group lessons.

Mark Ward started the Windy Ridge Ranch in 1979 and has been having fun teaching riding lessons ever since. He's pictured here with his Quarter Horse, Jet, and with his wife, Katie, on Samson.

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Photo above and at far left by Kathleen Smith.

Riding Lesson Session Information

Fall is a great time to ride!

Session 5 begins September 9. Openings remain in the Junior Beg. class (age 9-11) on Mondays at 4pm. Register for lessons.

Learn more about our Lessons and see the 2010 Session Calendar.

Session 5 Lesson Roster

News & Events

	Congratulations to all the State Fair Riders! Here are the 2010 results! See the You Tube video of the Drill Team ride Windy Ridge Riders Drill Team - 2nd Western Pleasure - 17 & under Clare Hazelroth & Flash - 2nd Paint Pole Bending Mark Ward & Flash - 3rd Open Division Western Horsemanship Clare Hazelroth & Flash - 3rd Morgan Pliszka & Spirit - 4th Bridget Carey & Jefe - 6th Open Division Hunter Under Saddle Jennifer Finch & Ranger - 3rd Kristin Leko & Sage - 5th Tandem Bareback Amanda Plucker & Sam Cook on Traveler - 4th Ellie Voss & Nicole Rucker on Nanibou - 6th Camas Prairie Erin Richardson on Cody - 2nd Ellie Voss on Nanibou - 3rd Bridget Carey on Jefe - 6th Here is a list of all the Events WRR was in.
	Senior's Ride --2010
	Bingo -- our new pony! Click the thumbnail image. Bingo! -- a photo of our recent addition to the Windy Ridge Ranch schooling string. Bingo has a sweet, inquisitive, gregarious personality that will win him lots of attention at the WRR. Bingo is a mixed breed pony gelding, 3 1/2 yrs. old. He is in basic training for riding and driving and shows excellent tractability.
	Drill Team and JETs Performed at the Washington County Fair on Thursday, Aug 5. Photos & videos soon.
	At the May 2010 Otter Creek Eventing Show, Mark Ward (on Jet) and Katie Clapp (on Wondergirl) competed in Dressage, Cross-Country, and Stadium Jumping. Watch a video of Katie Stadium Jumping.
	May Schooling Show The Windy Ridge Riders Horse Club May 16th show was a great success with over 45 contestants. Details of placings, photos, and videos of the jumping event will be posted soon.
	Drill Team Our 2010 Drill Team Pattern is ready for practicing and will be performed at the Washington County Fair on August 5th at 7:00pm and at the Minnesota State Fair on September 4th during the 6:30pm show. Click the image to open a .pdf file showing the details.
	Valentines Fun Show Over 40 contestants made it a fun day at the WRR. Our "show in the snow" went well. Here's a photo gallery. (Thanks to Karen Graves for some of the photos). Here's a quick video review of the Rope Race, Ski-joring, the Parade of Hearts, and Bobaloosa carrying three riders. (Updated, 2/18/2010)
	The Windy Ridge Riders performed in the Winter Carnival Torchlight Parade, Saturday, Jan. 30th. Check out these official Winter Carnival parade photos.
	Justin is still going strong at age 26!
	Becky Holder Clinic at Carriage House Farms attended by Mark & Katie Jan. 2 & 3.
	Tessa Andrews Receives a $500 Grant from the MN Horse Council for Her Girl Scout Gold Award Project The Washington County Fair Board agreed to match the grant. Tessa will work with volunteers to install a new wash station at the Washington County fairgrounds the spring of 2010. Let Tessa know if you'd like to help!
	MN Horse Council Scholarship Winner (Jan 2010) Ellie Voss received a second Minnesota Horse Council (MHC) scholarship for $3,000 to continue her college pre-vet program. She will receive the scholarship at the MHC Annual Meeting on Jan. 16th. Ellie credits her daily work with Nanibou (after Nanibou broke her leg) for her inspiration to become a veterinarian. Watch a video of her 2009 award presentation.
	All 48 horses went Christmas caroling through Stonemill Farms. See a video.
	Rebecca Bond created a herd of horse cookies for Christmas.
Photo by Sarita Patel	Keeper, Clown of the Herd Keeper was euthanized Saturday, Nov. 28, after to a sudden illness. Keeper was a 14-year-old Quarterhorse-Arabian, uncle to Wonder Girl. His registered name was Broadway Gold Impress. Read more... The University of Minnesota pathology lab identified liver disease as the cause of death. The lesions on his liver were severe and rarely seen. One possible cause could have been long-term chronic ingestion of, and a unique sensitivity to, pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) toxins from plants, but the list of suspect plants are mostly unseen in Minnesota (and do not occur in the WRR pasture). The pathologist said we'll never really know why Keeper's liver became diseased and there is nothing that could have been done to treat it.
	New horses at the Windy Ridge Ranch Izzy and Remy are our two new horses. Izzy is a 5 yr. old thoroughbred mare (dapple grey) and Remy is a 5 yr. old Kentucky Mountain Horse gelding (chestnut). After additional training, they will become WRR schooling horses. Larger photo.
	The Windy Ridge Riders Horse Club 2009 Halloween Fun Show was a huge success, with 65 participants. 23 competed in the costume event. Here's a photo gallery of the costumed riders. (Thanks to Kathleen Smith for the very professional photos.)
	It takes Talent! Read about Lynne Mentureck's 2009 State Fair ride.
	Drill Team wins 2nd place at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair! And gets 1st in the Stable Appointment Awards. See a video. See the full list of awards for the events WRRers were in.
	Washington County Fair, July 30th The Drill Team and JETs performed at the Washington County Fair Thursday, July 30th. See the video of the Drill Team performance!
	WRRHC Dick Kachel Memorial Fun Show, July 19 See Bob Krone's Photo Gallery See Joe Macc's Photo Gallery
	The herd enjoys their first outing into the big pasture last May, 2009 When the Sci-Girls crew filmed a show at the Windy Ridge Ranch, TPT videographer Michael Phillips caught this video of the entire herd running out into the pasture. See the video. (At left Rosemare leaps over a gully. Watch for this moment in the video -- near the end.)
	Forestville Camping Trip, May 2009 See the photo gallery.
	Frost-free hydrants need special handling. Read the details.
	More News & Events