Ivey Ranch Park Association Celebrates

Ivey Ranch Park Association Celebrates 40 Years

This year an Oceanside attraction that has made a difference in many lives will be celebrating its 40th birthday, and there’s a chance that you don’t even know it’s here. Directly across from the Mission San Luis Rey stands one of the oldest houses in Oceanside, built in 1889. Today the house overlooks a large park that is part of a City of Oceanside Historic Preservation Area. You can drive right by it on the 76 and not even know it is there – a large horse ranch right in the middle of Oceanside, with a very special purpose. For 40 years this space has been occupied by Ivey Ranch Park Association (iveyranch.com), a non-profit organization that provides recreational and educational programs for individuals of all ages, including those with special needs. Their Equestrian Center provides therapeutic horseback riding, equine assisted learning, and vaulting, but IRPA also provides daycare, in-home respite care, and even community gardening. Ivey Ranch’s programs serve children with and without special needs, low-income families, at-risk youth, and veterans/wounded warriors. Serving more than 400 individuals a month, IRPA’s goals are community integration and participation, personal choice, self-respect, respect for others, competence, and self-reliance. Currently more than two thirds of their clients have moderate to severe disabilities which include behavioral disorders, genetic disorders, and disabilities caused by accident or trauma. Interacting with horses can be a natural, fun, and even life-changing therapy for those with physical, mental, emotional and behavioral challenges. Horses and humans walk using a similar motion and gait, and horse movements cause riders to respond using natural body movements. Horseback riding promotes integrated “whole person” flow of movements, and students with physical disabilities improve their muscle strength, balance, flexibility, and coordination. The horses at Ivey Ranch are friendly, nonjudgmental companions. Their gentle natures improve mental and emotional states, and the bond that develops between horse and rider often inspires a sense of teamwork, responsibility, communication, caring, and joy. Horses that become too old to provide riding lessons get to live out their retirement years on the ranch, acting as ambassadors for the many programs and sometimes visiting local schools. “I have had the privilege of running this facility for over 22 years and it is still amazing to me to see the happiness and joy that is inspired by our clients, volunteers, horses, and staff. The gifts that our programs both give and receive can renew any person’s faith in community.” – Tonya Danielly, Executive Director. Long before it became the facility it is today, the house and surrounding grounds passed through several landowners’ hands from 1891 to 1937, at which point it was purchased by L.O. Ivey. Mr. Ivey lived most of his later adult life in San Marino (near Pasadena), then Westwood, then Holmby Hills, part of Los Angeles.

He loved to ride horses on the ranch and to ride around in his open, metallic green Jeep. Mr. Ivey died in 1978 and the land was held in the L.O. Ivey Trust until the City of Oceanside acquired it in 1981. During that year, a steering committee proposed a concept for the establishment of a park at a twenty-acre site on the Ivey Ranch Estate. The Ivey Ranch Steering Committee’s plan was for a park that would be fully accessible to both the disabled and able-bodied, that would provide an environment for all groups of the area’s population to interact and relate to one another, irrespective of their disabilities. Today the park is managed by an independent nonprofit agency, Oceanside Ivey Ranch Park Association. The City of Oceanside retains ownership of the land and the Association is responsible for developing, administering, and maintaining the park. This year Ivey Ranch Park Association celebrates 40 years of doing incredible work to better the lives of so many people, and you can be a part of the celebration! On October 16th from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, the 40th Anniversary Ivey Ranch Hoedown celebration will be held at the park and is open to families and visitors of all ages. For more information on the October 16th event and Ivey Ranch Park Association, please visit iveyranch.com.

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