Western Pleasure builds on family legacy

Janice Schoonover thinks her grandfather had a specific vision for what he wanted in a ranch when he was lured to northern Idaho by an advertisement for cut-over timber land being sold by the Humbird Lumber Co.

Riley Wood decided to decamp his family from their hardscrabble existence in Colorado in the 1940s for greener pastures. But such pastures were only imagined in a mental picture until they were shown several hundred acres in the Cabinet Mountains’ Gold Creek drainage.

“I think it most exemplified that picture,” Schoonover said of what would become the Gold Creek Ranch.

The family of six proceeded to make ends meet by whatever means was available — raising dairy cattle and later beef cattle, selling milk and cream in town, raising chickens, cutting timber and selling cedar posts for 12 cents apiece.

Over the years, the family steadily accumulated lands surrounding the ranch and eventually additional land alongside U.S. Highway 95 north of Ponderay, where the cattle operations were eventually moved and guided by Janice’s father, Jim Wood.

There was a time in the late 1970s and 1980s when some of the Gold Creek Ranch’s acreage was for sale.

“We just thank the Lord that it didn’t sell,” said Schoonover.

The ranch has grown to about 1,100 acres and was recently accepted into the Forest Legacy Program, which will forever preserve it from the creep of development.

After graduating from college in the 1990s and returning to Upper Gold Creek with her husband, Roley, the couple pursued their own vision.

“The idea came about to do horseback rides,” recalls Janice.

That vision has since broadened into the Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, an all-season destination for vacationers, wedding parties, reunions and retreats.

The couple built three guest cabins in the early 1990s and in 1996 built the 10,000-square-foot lodge.

In addition to horseback rides and instruction, Western Pleasure offers sleigh rides, and packages featuring fly fishing and paddling. The ranch has 42 horses, 30 of which are for riding. The rest are draft horses for sleigh rides.

“It takes lots of pieces of the pie to make it work,” said Janice, who believes the success of the business is utilizing all four seasons.

They still draw visitors from around the nation, although more appear to be coming from more regional, drive markets in recent years following 9/11 and the recent economic turmoil.

“People, I think, are looking a little more locally for vacations,” Janice said.

Janice said they are also seeing more grandparents looking for a different experience when vacationing with grandchildren and recently made its first booking she is absolutely certain came through the social networking site Facebook.

“I think that’s the future,” she said.

• For more on Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, go  online to www.westernpleasureranch.com.