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Bear Creek Stables
Two Warriors – A Likely Partnership
Karen Read
When Martha Salazar arrives at Bear
Creek Stables most evenings, she is like any
other boarder. She is looking forward to a
bit of time with her horse to recharge her
batteries and de-stress after a long day at the
office. She whistles to her mare, and Reina
gallops in from the pasture to greet her.
Reina is big. Really big. At over 2,000
pounds and 16.2 hands high at the withers,
most people can’t see over her shoulder
to the other side. She’s a Percheron, a
type of draft horse originally bred for use
as warhorses. Known for their strength,
bravery, and willingness to work, Reina is a
perfect example of the Percheron breed.
Reina means queen in Spanish, but far
from royalty, Reina spent the first ten years
of her life as a Premarin mare, confined to
a small stall for most of the day, attached to
a urine-collection device for the production
of hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
medication. As luck would have it, demand
for Premarin declined, so Reina was retired
from the production line and re-homed.
Martha got Reina three years ago from a
private buyer who purchased her at auction
with her foal, Eli. Martha had never owned
a horse before. She was a beginning rider,
and as sometimes happens, she fell off. Was
it a long walk back to the stables? No, Reina
stayed by her side until Martha got back
on, and tried again. Sometimes we think we
bought the right horse because it has a nice
temperament, or it’s a good riding horse, or
to give an unwanted horse a better outcome.
And sometimes we see ourselves in the
horse: calm, connected, strong.
Martha Salazar’s other talent is
boxing. Not just a weekend warrior, she
has been a competitive heavyweight boxer
since 2001. In November 2014, she became
the third Hispanic to become a world
heavyweight champion in boxing’s history,
winning the women’s WBC heavyweight
crown in San Francisco.
What do a heavyweight boxer and a draft
horse named Reina have in common? Reina
helps Martha stay centered and strong. And
Martha sees her horse as a gentle giant. An
unlikely partnership? No, these two warriors
found each other.
Portola Castle Rock Foundation
Supporting Your Local State Parks
Barbara Harriman
In 2011, Castle Rock and Portola
Redwoods State Parks were slated for
closure due to the state budget crisis.
The Portola and Castle Rock Foundation
worked with its partners—the Sempervirens
Fund, Save the Redwoods League, and the
Peninsula Open Space Trust—to allocate
$350,000 to save these parks from closure,
but the struggle continues. Budget cuts
have left these two parks chronically understaffed.
Years of deferred maintenance have
led to deteriorating infrastructure. Portola
Castle Rock Foundation has the mission
of supporting the parks to keep them open
and thriving.
Goat Rock in Castle Rock State Park
In 2013, the Portola Castle Rock
Foundation, in cooperation with California
State Parks, organized and funded ongoing
training of the park volunteers who aid
park rangers and maintenance staff by
hiking the trails and reporting hazards and
violations, assisting visitors, maintaining a
uniformed presence on the trails, leading
guided interpretive hikes, and assisting with
the Junior Ranger programs. This highly
successful program now has forty trained
Portola Castle Rock Foundation volunteers
have logged over 4,000 hours on the trails of
both state parks in three years.
Fox HorsemansHip - lessons & training
• lessons in englisH & western
• student work excHange
• Horse leasing & sponsorsHip
• Horse Boarding
Respect Through Partnership
page 14
Mountain Network News
a Fun place to relax and spend time witH
Horses. putting a Focus on Horse/Human
communication & willing partnersHip.
(510) 396-7067 or (408) 718-7006
www.FoxHorsemansHip.com
FoxHorsemansHip@gmail.com
october 2015