About El Camino Ranch

El Camino Ranch has been in business since 1983, and is located in Redlands, California.  With this area comes a very mild climate, one that is conducive to growing oranges and other citrus. We sit in the middle of an orange grove, so of course our horses love to eat oranges.   Read more about El Camino Ranch and its owners below

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Owners

LaVesta Locklin

LaVesta Locklin is a retired Public Health Nurse, who spent many years working at Inland Regional Center, a state mandated program for Developmentally Disabled individuals, got her Masters degree in Public Health at Loma Linda University, then she retired to find herself becoming interested in Arabian horses. She and husband, Bill,  went to an Arabian Auction in Santa Ynez, Calif., which was conducted by Mike Nichols, who was making movies, and he made a splashing presentation of the horses. That was 1983, and Bill & LaVesta bought their first Arabian, GG Magnolia, a Spanish Arabian mare, who was in foal for the following year. Later that year Bill purchased 3 other Arabian mares, also in foal, from Jay and Dorothy Stream at Greengate Farm. Well, the next year El Camino Ranch had 4 beautiful fillies, so now we had 8 mares. We purchased Amoroso de Espana, a Spanish stallion, and LaVesta went to University of California at Davis that year and earned her Certificate in Advanced Equine Reproduction. While in Loma Linda, she had studied Human Genetics, and this proved useful to her in Equine Genetics, also. She was no longer retired. She was the Breeding Manager for several years until the ranch became larger.

El Camino purchased the 11 year old Spanish stallion, *Numaa++, for our breeding program; and we started a lesson program.  We then added another trainer, and later also a performance trainer.  LaVesta was now supervising the entire ranch, and we hired another Breeding Manager.  LaVesta is pictured with *Numaa++ in 2005, when he was 30 years old.  LaVesta spent 10 years breeding National Show Horses, and during those years was President of the California National Show Horse Association, and was on the national NSHA Board of Directors.  The NSHA Board presented LaVesta with a plaque for the years of 1994 to 2003 when she resigned and moved back to the Arabian industry.  Arabians are the horses that El Camino has always sold to our riding students, and show students, and as our clientele grew, we renamed our Lesson Department to El Camino Ranch Riding Academy.  Thus we had need for more Arabians to sell to our students.  This was our focus as we moved back to Arabian breeding, showing, and training.

Scott Reeves

Scott Reeves, LaVesta’s son, Is Breeding Manager her at El Camino. As a second generation rancher, Scotts daily tasks far exceed those traditionally given to breeding managers. Scotts responsibilities’ here at the ranch range from bandaging up the occasional wound to breeding and foaling out babies. Scott is familiar with the primary Arabian horse bloodlines. These include Spanish, Polish, Egyptian, Domestic, Crabbet, and Russian. His diligent study of bloodlines and their characteristics make him an advantage to any breeding program. He spent 6 days in Fort Collins, Colorado, in November, 2009, attending Equine Reproduction classes, including Artificial Insemination, Cooled and Frozen Semen Transport, Foaling Equine Babies, and Mare and Foal Care.

Vandi Reeves

Vandi Reeves, LaVesta’s granddaughter, grew up here at El Camino Ranch since age 3 years. She always had her own pony or horse. And as she got older, it was Vandi’s “horses”. She showed a number of the ranch owned horses, too. Vandi showed in Walk/Trot, 13 and Under, then in 14 to 17, in Pleasure and Equitation, in Western, Hunter, English, Reining, Side Saddle, Show Hack, and Native Costume. She and her horses won many local and regional Championships, and at 5 Arabian Youth Nationals, they won 9 Reserve Championships, and 20 Top Ten awards. She showed and won with Baseyna, KA Cherry, Jon, Reign Dancer, EC Summer Splash, EC Sylouette, EC Symphony, EC Native American, EC Dreamarosa, EC Macintosh, EC Palomar, EC Mazarati, EC Mercedes, Lost in Yonkers, and Lil Miss Muffett. During the few years that LaVesta bred NSH’s, Vandi rode 2 Saddlebred mares, A Whole New World and It’s Phi Day, and a gelding, Paladin’s Pride in driving . One year when she was 10 years old she showed the Welsh pony, Lloydor Bryt Lyt to a National Championship in English Pleasure. Now that Vandi is an adult, She spends most of her time managing the ECR Riding Academy and Training Departments. She is also secretary of the Rancho California Arabian Horse Association, and an AHA Region One Youth Advisor. To contact her please email her at vandi.reeves@yahoo.com