xxxxxCombine great facilities with a beautiful setting, close to town yet surrounded by open space, and you've just described Fox Valley Farm, new home of hunter/jumper trainer Kathy Robertson-Busick's business. Recently relocated from Bottomley Farm, Kathy describes her new location, at Cull Canyon Ranch, with superlatives.
xxxxx"We are only about seven to ten minutes from downtown Castro Valley," Kathy relates, "but when you're here, you're in a completely different world."
xxxxxThe ranch itself includes 110 acres, bordered by a 4,500-acre watershed that includes open land and woods, complete with fabulous trails that connect to Las Trampas Park, Joaquin Miller, and Chabot. "You can ride forever," Kathy says, and her customers take advantage of the location to do just that.
xxxxxTheir horses are all the better for it. A trail ride before or after a jumping lesson, or on a day off, makes for a saner, happier horse . . . who then jumps all the better for not being sour and over-worked.
xxxxxIf that sounds like the hallmark of a well-rounded training program, it is. "We do have a well-rounded program," admits Kathy. "We excel at meeting different types of needs." Her customers include adults and children, horse owners and those who lease school horses, clients who show and those who don't. Obviously, it works. Many of Kathy's customers have been with her for five or six years.
xxxxx"I'm customer-driven," Kathy says. "It's all about what the customers want to do." If they want to show, she prepares them and takes them to shows, from local schooling shows to the A circuit. If they want to stay home and ride purely for personal satisfaction, she supports that choice, also.
xxxxxThey have ideal facilities to work with. Covered arena, outdoor arena, and indoor round pen all have sand/rubber footing. Upper and lower barns have stalls with attached paddocks, plus there are large grass turnouts for equine R&R two to three times a week.
xxxxxPersonnel is equally important, and Kathy has another valued asset in instructor and trainer Laurel Sato. "Laurel teaches the majority of our school horse lessons, as well as doing some of the riding," Kathy describes. "She's been with me for about six years now, and she's great!
xxxxxKathy is equally enthusiastic about her school horses, saying simply, "I have the best!" Eight horses, mostly Appaloosas or Appaloosa crosses, are the kind of lesson horses any trainer would covet - they can go from teaching beginners to competing in shows with equal success.
xxxxxKathy developed her appreciation for good horses and good riding, and her well-rounded training program, over more than 20 years in the business. She started out in Pony Club in Woodside, trained with such well-known hunter/jumper pros as
Pat Rostron, Tommy Lowe, and Gary Ryman, and spent years taking dressage clinics with the legendary Liz Searle. She got her start teaching hunter/jumper customers for Melissa Creswick in Clovis, then opened her own hunter/jumper training business, and eventually relocated back to the Bay Area. Then, six years at Bottomley Farm, where she became a partner.
xxxxxToday, Fox Valley Farm is everything she ever wanted in a business. "Everybody has a good time," Kathy smiles, describing the great dynamics at Fox Valley Farm. "Life is short, you've got to enjoy what you do."