Winter is behind us and the sloping hillsides at the Linn Ranch are taking on the vibrant greens and growth that tells us spring has arrived. Morning Star Youth Ranch is also blooming and taking shape.

Bryce and his fellow Boy Scouts have finished building, priming, and painting the arena planned in January. They worked hard and had to dig many postholes by hand as the dry ground this year proved to be too much for Carl’s tractor. Thank-you to all that helped complete this project. (Be sure to see the pictures at our photo gallery)

Early in March on a Saturday morning nine able guys armed with hammers and other assorted tools joined together to turn a pile of lumber into a tack room and storage shed. By 3 o’clock that afternoon two 8x16 buildings stood stout and strong. It was amazing to watch the teamwork and speed with which the floors, walls and roofs went up. Carole fixed a great lunch for all and Emily documented the day with some great pictures. A huge thank-you to Tony for his guidance and leadership and to Jack, Marc, Paul, Allen, Norm, Bill, Ike, and Pres for your hard work and help on this project.

We would also like to thank Atascadero Door for donating two beautiful doors, frames, and hardware and Anthony’s Roofing for labor and materials in roofing both sheds.

Just this last week Ron and Bill began putting the finishing touches on these sheds by way of primer and paint donated by Frazee Paint of Atascadero (exterior) and the Paso Robles store (interior primer and paint). Thank-you to both of these fine businesses for your support of MSYR. And to Ron for working on the ramps, trim and painting- Thank you. (To see pictures go to the photo gallery). Coming soon: Photos of the finished sheds and moving in!

Another project in the works for this spring is tree planting. At this time we are preparing to plant a row of shade trees so they get a good start before the horses arrive.

Thank-you to Hewitt Hardware in Templeton for donating drip line for this project.

Estimates should be coming in this next week for our cross-fencing project. We are still in need of wire, pipe, cement, and gates. As we work to complete our facilities and get ready to bring our horses to the ranch the excitement mounts. Training is still on going for our mentors to be, and we are encouraged by the support of our community.

Selah and Fire are shedding their winter coats leaving traces of themselves wherever they roll. Fire continues to be a blessing to us and seems to be enjoying the task of training mentors. She is patient and honest and a joy to be around. Selah is turning four this year and is ready to get out and experience the world beyond her pasture.

Our newest addition is a 13-year-old paint mare named Indian Summer. Mary, our farrier, rescued her from an abusive situation – and a local vet and his wife have patiently cared for her. Now they are giving her to us. She has soft expressive eyes that make you want to give her a hug. We look forward to having her join us as soon as the horse facilities are completed. Due to additional information we have learned about this mare and how she received the name Indian Summer we have decided to keep her name and call her Indy for short (a name she already recognizes) Thank you to all who sent in possible names for this sweet mare. We will keep all the names in a file for future horses that come to the ranch in need of a name.