Welcome to The Ravine Outdoor Adventure Park, our family's home. Do you know our story?
We moved to this absolutely mind blowing property in June of 2020 - looking for a better space for our natural horsemanship training business. As we were settling in and exploring the property I was simultaneously losing all motivation and passion for teaching kids how to be good, kind, thoughtful horsemen - it's hard to teach your passion. Each lesson can either fuel you or drain you, sometimes both at once. And though Shannon, Kenna and I had been running Horse Sense together for a few years, in order to pay for this new/massive place, Shannon had to step back into his regular schmuck job to earn the big bucks. So, our daughter Kenna and I were left facing the possibility of running it all without him. Yuck. No thanks. Who else is gonna tell parents that their kids weren't right for our program?! I'd burn this whole place down before that has to become my job. So...here I was, a complete hard-physical-workaholic, left with 80 stunning acres and a whole bunch of spare time.
So, one Saturday we invited some friends out to ride their quads and dirtbikes - something I had absolutely no interest in partaking in - I ride horses, not machines. Well, it turns out that that was an absolute blast. I didn't even ride anything, just watched them have the time of their lives. So, the next weekend when they came out again, I had cut two race tracks with the mower. Dude -- they shredded it out here and it was the greatest fuel I've ever been fed. My fire was officially burning.
Queue new business idea. I would cut trails down through this gorgeous ravine, hang hammocks and tree swings and let families come make memories at this place that is too stunning to keep to ourselves. I gave myself a three month timeline to build the park, build a social media following and kick the gate open.
I spend all my waking hours thinking about ways to make this place even more beautiful and even more fun. I've built picnic tables, swings, the A-frame playhouse, cut over ten miles of trail by hand - literally -- a chainsaw can't even come close to keeping up with me. I outwork every machine I've ever met. But my muscles don't give up - a handsaw and a pair of loppers do their best to keep up with me and get this place cleared. Kenna spent the first several months following behind me on my "walk & lops" clearing all the branches I've cut, dragging thousands of pounds of limbs to burn piles around the park. Shannon spends every minute he's not at his real job out here pulling up miles of old fencing, constantly repairing my destroyed mowers, clearing trails, cutting down trees that bested me, moving all of my builds around the park and being my general yes-man. Thank god I've found a man that loves to say yes to me. He doesn't always love the work, but he loves that I love it and that's all we need to keep this place ginning. So, on the weekends when we get the enormous pleasure of welcoming you guys to our home and get to buzz with the delighted energy this place brings everyone, know that you are fueling us to keep pushing to make this place better. We joke about being like Monsters Inc - fueled by the screams of kids being whizzed around on off road toys or flung down the zipline. There is nothing better than to hear and see families making lifelong memories here at our home. Man, it would have been such a waste to keep this place to ourselves.
Thank you all for loving The Ravine as much as we do. It wasn't something we had ever thought about doing until it just suddenly smacked me in the head one day. And I can't tell you how fulfilled, content and bursting with pride I am to share this place with you all. Keep the screams, squeals and laughter coming guys.
Much love, Ravinies, Becca Black Founder of The Ravine