A WORKING RANCH: THERE'S NO LIFE LIKE IT, ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE

April 5, 2004

Barry and Brenda Clemens, owners of Beaver Creek Ranch & Horse Center, offer plenty of ranching experiences within the beauty of the Qu’Appelle Valley

Ever since "diversification" became a favoured word in agricultural circles, Beaver Creek Ranch and Horse Centre in the hills near Lumsden has exemplified its meaning. And, incredibly, Beaver Creek Ranch and Horse Centre has just added yet another form of diversification: ranch vacations.

"We've always been very diversified and now, because of the BSE situation, we're expanding again. We couldn't just put our head in the sand. We had to do something," says one of the owners, Barry Clemens.

It all began with his wife, Brenda, whose father established the Beaver Creek Ranch in 1973 in order to raise Simmental cattle as a retirement project. Brenda, a city girl whose passion was horses, obtained her diploma in Livestock Production from Olds College at Olds, Alberta in 1976, and became the ranch manager. Because she had been riding horses since she was 14, and had worked with an American and a Canadian equestrian team member, she was soon training horses as well. When her father died in 1984, she took over the cattle and horse operation.

After she married Barry in 1989, the diversification became serious. Barry is responsible for the herd of purebred Red Angus and commercial Red Angus and Charolais crossbred heifers. He also breeds and sells Texas Longhorns, and raises cattle to contract for team penning, cutting, team roping and cow-horse competitions. He has held clinics for novice team penning and working cow horses, and for novice team roping camps.

As a member of the National Coaching Certification Program, Brenda trains all levels of riders and horses in both western and English styles. Students arrive from all over Saskatchewan as well as from Sweden, Germany, Australia and Japan. Some stay a week, some a month. She and Barry, who is also a respected horse trainer, offer roping, penning and riding competitions at the ranch throughout the year, and many of the horses they breed have gone on to become national champions.

"But we have an 18-year-old son who wants a future on the ranch, so we wanted to make a living for ourselves and for him too. So, because we're accustomed to having people around all the time, we hit on the idea of hosting ranch vacations. Our target is the foreign market and, to help us reach that market, we contacted a consultant who had proven herself through her own successful vacation enterprises. It was the best thing I ever did."

The consultant toured the ranch, which includes a swimming pool as well as barns, stables, an outdoor arena and sleighs and wagons for pulling by the two heavy horses, and listened to the Clemens's ideas. Given all the positive attributes, including the location in a wide valley about 30 minutes from an international airport and a hired man who is trained as a chef, the concept of a vacation ranch was not a stretch of the imagination.

"We melded our ideas, with the consultant adding her foreign-market expertise, and developed a series of vacation packages. We have a Cowboy Sampler, for example, which is an evening of horse-drawn wagon rides, team roping demonstrations, and barbecued buffalo or beef steaks or hamburgers. The evening ends with cowboy tales around the bonfire. It's geared for hotel-based groups that want to experience a working ranch.

"Hosting a vacation ranch is not a huge departure for us. We're just targeting a different market. We have our packages together already and will soon have them out to tour operators in Europe. We'd also like to attend Equitana in Germany next year, as it's the world's largest trade show for horses. We know our vacation ranch won't be an overnight success - it takes years to develop - but we're confident we're on the right track," says Brenda.

More information is available on the Beaver Creek Ranch and Horse Centre Web site at www.bbclemens.com.