Hi, I’m Roxanne Baxter with BCR Horsemanship LLC here at Baxter Creek Ranch. We are located in the beautiful Southern Oregon.
My history:
I’ve been riding since I was in my mothers womb. I was then born into trail riding, team penning and barrel racing. After a few years I joined 4-H and learned many disciplines from Dressage to Reining. I didn’t find just one discipline to focus on, I fell in love with them all.
Year after year of showing, I started to realize that besides enjoying showing, I actually found I loved training horses. Growing up, my dads horse and him were having communication issues. After witnessing it too many times, I decided to secretly step in. After a few rides, my parents started noticing a change and they decided it was best for him if I continued to work with him. I started competing on him and we placed in multiple shows, won Championships and reserve Championships.
Before working with my dads horse, I learned a good foundation from my horse, but I really learned a great deal from my moms horse. All of our horses were rescues that we also retrained. Retraining is always harder than training a young horse that’s never been handled. It felt great to gain their trust, respect and love.
The spiritual side of my work:
I have always felt that building a true bond with the horse was the most important thing. I want to have an amazing partnership with a horse, not just ride them. I strive to understand each horse, see where they have been and where they are at in that moment I meet them. I try my hardest to read and understand each horse I encounter. I start out working from the ground so I can learn who they are and how they communicate.
My goal before I leave this earth is to have gotten as close as I possibly can to hearing and understanding the horse. Having that spiritual connection means more to me than just winning some ribbons or belt buckles. Don’t get me wrong competition and winning are fun, but they aren’t everything. I do enjoy getting in the show ring, but I love sitting with the horses watching them swish flies, listening to them munch their food, the smell of them just after a few minutes of the sun warming their skin and hearing the sounds of their hoof beats on the ground. God is so good and wonderful to have created these beauties and to have placed them in my life.
My training/instructing approach is done at a slow pace to help both horse and rider build on a life long journey together. I teach connection, trust, kindness, communication, comfort, calmness, how to have a relationship and relaxation while using natural horsemanship techniques. I don’t put band-aids over things, I find the cause and work the horse and rider through it.
Where can you find me:
I currently run training out of both our ranch and work as an assistant trainer/riding instructor at Rising Hope Stables. Inquire about rates and get on the list for either training for your horse or riding lessons for yourself.