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Press Release

HIGHER GROUND RANCH – GRAND OPENING
You are invited to a community picnic to honor our Veterans and see the
Higher Ground Ranch Facilities – July 4, 2014
By: Ben Theere

You were all wondering who purchased Old Ferguson’s place and what they were going to do with it?

I was invited to be a “fly on the wall” while Fred and Lynda Brady shared how and why they started The Higher Ground Ranch in the Methow Valley. We sat in the cozy family room with our coffee sitting on an amazing coffee table made of diamond willow. Touching the smooth cool surface while enjoying a faint aroma from the stone wood fireplace made me think of times gone by.
Lynda started:
“In 2008, I was at a XanGo convention in Salt Lake City, Utah and the motivational speaker asked us to “see” our dream. I had no dream, but out of the blue, while I stood with 10,000 distributors, in my mind I suddenly “saw” a horse ranch and began to weep. That was the start of it all. When I got home, I googled “horse camps” and found Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Oregon, where they rescue horses.

http://www.crystalpeaksyouthranch.org

When the horses are physically able, they are matched with a young person for their time in camp. The wonderful stories of both children and animals were so heart warming, I cried. I still cry and am amazed when I see how these recovering abused animals can make such a difference in people. Thy have the mysterious ability to help people heal physically, emotionally and mentally.”

Fred took up the story: “Another amazing thing happened, we call it a “God Thing”. Two years later our son, not knowing of Lynda’s vision rescued an 8 year old Percheron gilding, “Diesel” . He had been re-claimed by his original owner, so starved they were not sure he would live. With instructions from the vet Curtis and his family started to bring Diesel back to life. That wonderful gentle giant gave us the idea to look specifically for draft horses. It’s been heartbreaking to see but also exhilarating to be able to save these wonderful animals. We have since seen 14 more horses saved, some we have here and others we have placed.

Through our XanGo Meal Pack program, we have been able to feed starving children around the world and build a successful business, this has given us the finances to purchase this wonderful 120 acre ranch in the Methow Valley. We were able to employ local builders and craftsmen to build our new place. They also fixed up the old ranch house like it needed to be for our handicapped guests. The designer for the entire ranch is himself wheel chair bound and added a lot of extra things we never would have thought of to make it all easy access. The upstairs in the old ranch house is used by our foreman, Wayne. We couldn’t do this without him and his years of expertise, he also is a veteran. What a horseman that guy is! Our new home is all one level with porcelain tile floors throughout and extra wide doorways and ramps.

Our barn handles 20 horses, and each stall can be accessed by someone in a wheelchair.

Our real passion has long been giving back to our veterans, who gave so much for us. Fred has long been involved with Point Man Ministries International, and this is a dual overflow from that. We have been privileged to work with these men and women and see amazing things happen. Some suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome – and the magical quiet and stillness of our ranch, coupled with the occasional neighing of the horses gives these friends of ours a time to regroup. And blessing upon blessing, we have a new psychologist that opened up a practice in town, and he is amazingly capable working with people suffering from PTSD’s. As we’ve said, we have hired disabled veterans to work on the ranch and to help us help others. They’ve “Been There, Done That”, and who is better able to help their fellow vets? They have been wonderful, giving us great, innovative ideas when it came to figuring exactly how to get someone from a wheelchair or other apparatus onto the back of a horse, and other issues the handicapped deal with.

One of my favorite stories happened right after we got started and in fact were not really ready for our veteran visitors. We had a very young man, David, that had served 4 tours in Afghanistan. He looked ok, but he was always wandering off by himself and was nervous and agitated. We had just gotten our 3rd horse, King, a beautiful Belgian draft horse that had beat unmercifully, to the point the owner was turned in, arrested and convicted of animal abuse. He seemed a good fit for David, both suffering in quiet solitude. David was shy and nervous when he was introduced to King, “He’s so BIG” was his comment. King treated David different than he did the rest of us. Somehow King KNEW David would be gentle with him. We awoke several times in the pre-dawn hours to see a light on in Kings stall. We knew David was there talking to him, telling him all of his troubles, telling him things he dared not tell another soul. Not very much later, David was atop King, getting riding lessons from Wayne. Now David and King are an integral part of our team.
So much has happened in such a sort time. We have been able to participate in the surrounding town’s parades, and show off our horses, wagons and the skills our vets have acquired. It is wonderful to see them laugh, shout and “say howdy” and they drive the teams along.

Two more couples have moved into town. The Jameson’s started building wagons, and we are more than blessed to have the Harrisons here, he is a farrier extraordinaire!!

As we contemplate what is to come we are filled with anticipation as we wait on God to see who He brings to us. Meeting on the grassy hill looking over our beautiful ranch, we have a simple meal, sing worship songs together as a family and receive a message from God’s word. Horses were rescued and the resulting interactions with Vets, changed many lives. What better place could a couple want to be, than involved with nature, horses and our very special Veterans.