Young Summerville rancher expands into equine aromatherapy - La Grande Observer

[MassageNews]

Nestled in the fertile hills of the Pumpkin Ridge territory of Summerville lies the Sauer Farms Quarter Horse Ranch, where 19-year-old Rachel Sauer is developing her latest venture, equine aromatherapy.

Sauer is a 2016 graduate of Imbler High School, a 2014 Elgin Stampede rodeo queen and has business owner as a background.

At age 13, she entered a business partnership with her mother, Tracy Sauer, raising and selling registered quarter horses.

“I pretty much grew up on the back of hors es,” she said. “My grandma, Judy Sauer, was also very big into riding and gaming horses, and she was the one that was out there getting me to ride with her.”

Sauer Farms has grown into a four generation ranching operation that began when her parents, Jimmy and Tracy Sauer, and her paternal grandparents, Jim and Judy Sauer, moved together to Summerville from Washington about 19 years ago. Jim Sauer passed away in 2012, so today, Jimmy and his son, James Sauer, do all the farming, while Tracy and Rachel share the quarter horse business. Judy remains living on the farm with the family.

“We do a lot of farming, raking, baling and stacking hay for other people, and we do our own hay too,” Sauer said. “Then we have the livestock part of our ranch, including our horses, and we just started getting into cattle too.”

They raise Maine-Anjou cattle, a very large, well-muscled breed with red spotted bodies.

“We have Maine-Anjou and Angus crosses as well,” Sauer said. “They are also a very good show breed. I’ve raised a few of my own here and shown them at local shows. We’ve been selling steers to kids as well.”

When it comes to quarter horses, Sauer Farms had been using a blue roan stallion called Merry Boy Hancock until his retirement about three years ago.

The careful search for a new stallion took about four years, but one year ago they finally purchased a registered blue roan from a seller in Ohio.

This stallion, she said, is five years old and will throw blue roan, bay and chestnut foals.

Sauer’s own stock of registered quarter horses started through a gift from her grandma, who gave her one of her best broodmares and a filly. All of her stock are registered with the American Quarter Horse Association.

“My mom and grandma helped me, but I raised up the filly that grandma gave me, and we also bred the filly’s mom again,” Sauer said. “I ended up selling the pregnant mare and the filly — my first sale — and I was 13 at the time. I find my buyers through word of mouth or through our website which has all the pedigrees listed there.”

Sauer trains her horses for gaming, rodeo and trail riding.

Training starts about three days after the foal is born. At that time, Sauer halters the foal and starts mauling it to get it accustomed to human touch. When the foal turns three years old, it’s time for training.

“We send most of our horses to a trainer, Ryan Preuit, of Medical Springs,” Sauer said. “We have used him for the past 10 years, and we’re very pleased with the results. He has our foals for a few months and depending on how they do over there, they sometimes sell right away or they come back to us, and we sell them.”

Prior to selling, Sauer said she makes sure her horses and the buyers are good matches for each other and that her horse is mature enough and safe enough for the buyer to ride.

“I’ve sold about nine horses so far, and I bought five,” Sauer said. “I usually breed five mares annually, but this year I bred two mares. We have 15 horses on the ranch right now, split between my mom and me.”

Over the next three weeks, Sauer will be attending a class in Battleground, Washington, that will teach her more about massage therapy, aromatherapy and reiki.

Sauer already has a second business selling essential oils for human use, but she also wants to incorporate them in her equestrian business.

“I’ll be learning a lot more about that at this training,” she said. “I put the essentials oils on my horses where I think they need them or I wear the oils myself when I’m working with my horses.”

Whether inhaled or applied directly to the horse’s skin, essential oils are very beneficial as a treatment or for achieving a state of homeostasis or balance in the horse.

For more information, go to the website www.sauerfarms.com .