Lives Are Changed at Miracle Ranch
by Sherilyn Sander, CHA Oregon State Representative
Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) promotes excellence in safety and education by certifying riding instructors, accrediting equine facilities, producing educational conferences, and publishing educational resources. CHA has a website go to www.CHA.Horse for more information.
“The greatest thing you can do is invest your life in other people.” I read this quote byPhil Peterson in a Miracle Ranch recruiting brochure from 1989. I remember reading that brochure cover to cover and hoping I could secure a job as a wrangler. I hadn’t made good life choices in my first year of college and hoped they would hire me. Thankfully they saw my heart over my recent poor choices, and I embarked on the best summer of my life thus far—and forever changed the trajectory of my life. I truly learned what it meant to invest my life in other people. I went on to serve seven more summers and five years full-time at Miracle Ranch.
Recently I returned to Miracle Ranch, this time to invest in this year’s wranglers, build their skills, and show them they were worth empowering.
This place holds so many memories! Have you ever been to summer camp? I’d only gone to one camp as a teenager, and it didn’t even have horses. I grew up in northern Idaho, had horses my whole life, yet never knew I could put my two passions together: serving Jesus and teaching horsemanship.
Miracle Ranch withstood the pandemic by going into “hibernation” for 12 months. There were no guest groups or camps. But they were committed to keeping their horses and horsemanship staff, so they launched a “sponsor-a-horse” campaign that enabled them to do that.
Miracle Ranch will not only be a life-changing place for staff, guests, and campers this summer—it will also be the host site for CHA Region 1 Conference March 2-5, 2023. Come join us!
CHA Region One conference is March 2-5, 2023 at Miracle Ranch in Port Orchard, Washington. Find more information about Northwest programs and certifications at www.charegion1.com.
See this article in the September/October 2022 online edition:
Sep/Oct 2022
The Northwest Horse Source is an independently owned and operated print and online magazine for horse owners and enthusiasts of all breeds and disciplines in the Pacific Northwest. Our contemporary editorial columns are predominantly written by experts in the region, covering the care, training, keeping and enjoyment of horses, with an eye to the specific concerns in our region.
