Ghostwind Appaloosas

History

Welcome to the Greenwood Ranch, home of Ghostwind Appaloosas. Our goal is to raise and breed horses for Appaloosa enthusiasts.

Our horses have abilities and personalities as diverse as you will find in a group of people. Within those abilities, you will find constants, their trainability and their ability to bond with their human partner. You will find speed, power, endurance, and the enjoyment of working on the ranch (especially if there are cows involved). Some of our horses are gaited which make the ride extremely smooth and comfortable.

How did we get into Appaloosas?

In the early 80’s, Bill ran field trials with his dogs in Washington, Montana, Oregon and B.C. To judge at field trials you have to be on horseback, hence Bill’s equine involvement started. He purchased one, which turned into two and then four

When we met four years ago, he was not spending as much time with the horses as he wanted. I grew up in ranch country but not a ranching family and had never had the opportunity of owning my own horse. When we discussed horses, we discovered that we had always had a fascination now turned into passion, with the Appaloosa breed, even though we had never had much contact with them.

Therefore, we set about researching this gorgeous horse. With Bill’s area of expertise being marketing and mine being history, this research turned into a quest. We read anything that pertained to Appaloosas, talked to those who were familiar with Appaloosas and sought the advice of a geneticist as to where we should go for maximum color. We bred the horses we had and we were thrilled with the offspring, so much so that it led us to the path we are now on.

We went looking for a few-spot foundation stallion and then the foundation broodmares.

Along the way, we have met some wonderful people who entrusted us with these wonderful animals. They have shared their knowledge and stories and have now become friends.

We have a fascinating story about the day that Phantom, our stallion, arrived from New York to Southern Saskatchewan. Those of you familiar with the Chief Chelsea story will find this quite interesting. This will be part of the history update in the next few weeks, so if you are interested just keep checking back.