Home - Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek

Mark your calendars: Horse Faire 2012 is on Saturday April 7th

Gallop on over to Horse Faire 2012 for free Family entertainment, exciting horse riding demonstrations to watch, fun activities for kids, a vendor alley with all kinds of crafts and great shopping, snack shack and a Tri-Tip BBQ lunch. Come see what the world of horses is all about! From 10am-4pm on Sat, April 7th, Opening Ceremony ~11am following completion of the Easter Egg Hunt at Heather Farm Park, look for the mini horses and follow them to Horse Faire! Contact our Horse Faire Chairperson, Mary Stewart, at maryrobinada@aol.com if you would like to participate as a vendor or in an equestrian demonstration of skill or breed.

Arenas are Now CLOSED due to the rain... that we really need!

Remember: ALWAYS check our website before you trailer to the arenas to make sure they are open.

Current Members: Please make sure you renew you arena membership - we will be sending the new combo lock code with the 2012 membership cards which will be mailed the week of Jan 23.

New Members: If you are new to our organization or a visitor to our website we should explain: you need to have an arena membership to ride at will in our arenas. As an arena member you will receive the combo with your new membership card so you can open the locks on the arenas! Please read the President's message below or go to Membership tab for more info about the arena and/or social memberships! Or call 925-939-2929

Read All About It! There was an article about the Equestrian Center in the Contra Costa County Newspaper: Walnut Creek Journal, Thursday, Jan. 5th

Sam Richards, Editor of the Walnut Creek Journal, knew a great story when he saw it! After seeing pictures taken by his WCJ photographer at our Day of the Horse event, Dec 11th, Sam asked Deborah Burstyn to write an article about us. The result was a fantastic article that all local horsemen, women and children will enjoy reading! The ECWC has many things to be thankful for here-- Sam's interest in telling our story, Deborah's wonderful writing and ultimately the City of Walnut Creek and the Heather Farm Recreational Department for supporting our efforts to keep the arenas alive and thriving. Go to this link on the Contra Costa County News Website to read the entire article and to see lots of pictures from the Day of the Horse:

Walnut Creek then, and now, a center for equestrians

If you would like to comment on this article please email Sam Richards at srichards@bayareanewsgroup.com

*Be sure to mention the Horse Faire and the date, April 7th, as well as our web address www.ecwc.org in your letter!

President's Message:

Welcome and thank you for visiting our website. The Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining two beautiful riding arenas in Heather Farm Park in Walnut Creek.

We sponsor our own annual horse shows for Miniature Horses, English, Western, and Dressage horses; we hold riding clinics and riding demonstrations for many different disciplines and we offer our arenas for rent to other organizations and groups as well. I believe we have a far greater purpose, however, and that is simply keeping an open space available for horses and the people who love, ride and care for them in the heart of our community. We have all witnessed barns and riding facilities in the Bay Area getting paved over by shopping centers and housing developments as their owners retire or retreat to greener pastures. Indeed we are blessed with incredible trails and protected spaces that are accessible to many of us who already own and ride horses... but what about future generations? How and where are children from the greater Walnut Creek area going to have the opportunity to learn to love, care for and ride horses? We want the Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek to remain a haven for them and for you. I hope you will join us in this goal.

Our social memberships are: $5/yr for youth under 18, $10/yr for adults and $25/yr for a family (with children under 18). If you want to ride your horse in our arenas on your schedule between the months of May and October you can become an arena member for just an additional $25/yr! Since the main purpose of our organization is to take care of our arenas we expect our arena members to help us maintain our arenas, and to manage and organize our events which fund our club. We hope all of our members would like to do so as well!

If you just want to come and visit us or watch our events... admission is free! We would love to have you come and see why we are so crazy about these beautiful and fascinating animals. There is a wonderful and special bond between humans and horses, we can't explain it, we just know it exists. While we don’t have stable facilities on our property or horses for rent, we are happy to direct to you rental, stable and training facilities in the Bay Area. Please check our barns and trainers tab for a facility where you can take lessons or you can board and train your horse-- then bring them back to the ECWC to ride and show!

We hope to see you at our wonderful Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek arenas soon. Let’s keep open space for our horses and the people who love, ride and care for them in the heart of our community.

Sincerely,

Jane J. VanderWerf, President 2011

Please contact me if you have any questions or comments about our organization: 925-939-2929 or info@equestriancenterofwalnutcreek.org

“There is something about the outside of a horse

that is good for the inside of a man.”

~Winston Churchill~

And if I may be so bold as to edit the words of Sir Winston--

please make that last line "the inside of a man, woman or child!"

~JJV~

Photos courtesy of Alan Myers www.amfoto1.printroom.com

and Andreas Koch http://www.akdesigninc.com/