How everything started ...
History :
It all started when Juri came back to Germany
after a 1 year exchange program in 1989/1990 during which he stayed on the Sipma farm in Tangent, AB and finished grade 12
and graduated in Eaglesham, AB. He fell in love with the Peace Country and just like the legend says - he drank from the waters
of the Peace River and had to return.
In the fall of 1990 he met Irinel while horsebackriding
along the River Rhine Valley in the South end of the Black Forest in Germany.
With Juri having
had the exposure to Western Riding in Canada and Irinel just recently transitioning from classic English Dressage to Western
Riding herself, they quickly found out, that the Western Riding Style in Germany was on a booming trend, however western equipment
and tack as well as good Quarter Horses were still rare and hard to find.
Combining their drive
and enthusiasm, they opened a tack store ( "Western Ecke" ) in 1991 in a small town called Kandern and soon grew
so big, that they had to change location and ended up renting an old farmhouse in Efringen-Kirchen, where they re-opened their
tack store in the old barn. There was also some land just across the road, where they build their first little barn for the
horses - including "Miss Rocket Roll" their first Quarter Horse mare ever owned.
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| Ranch Evaudois - barn with main building in the background |
In 1993 as further expansion of the horse operation was impossible due to restrictions of the location,
they bought and moved to a decent sized farm in Les Evaudois , Servance, beautifully located in the Vosgian Mountains in North-Eastern
France.Naming themselves "Ranch Evaudois - Equitation et Equipment Americaine" they relocated
their tack store once again, but now also attending and selling at all major AQHA and APHA shows in Central Europe including
Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxemburg. Soon they became exclusive dealer of Pullman and Continental Saddlery
in France.
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| Ranch Evaudois Tack Store having a booth at a horse show in Germany |
At the same time, Irinel quit her job as a gardener in Germany and started focusing on the horse side
of the business including training horses , lessons and trail rides as well as their breeding program of Quarter Horses -
one of the first ones within some hundred kilometers! She soon started to get increasingly interested in the sport of Reining
and started to work with a German Coach - Else Schmidt. Horses trained by Irinel in Europe are still competing on national
and international shows, with one becoming Swiss Champion not too long ago. After building a new
barn in 1995 boarders came to their ranch and the business began taking off, with the place soon reaching its capacity of
over 20 horses. During that time they were very successfull with their breeding program, producing a French AQHA Champion.
In 1999, after being once again at a point, where no more growth was possible combined with the
problems and restrictions of French burocracy a decision had to be made once again, of which way to go and a decision was
made to immigrate to Canada.
In March 2000 they immigrated to Canada and Juri started working
as a ranchhand at first and after a few month in the oilfield. With some regular income to support the start-up of the farm,
Irinel started to buy horses , give lessons and complete the Rider Levels in order to become a certified coach.
In June 2001 they aquired their registered brand for their cattle herd, which then became the name of the ranch -
BAR 2A.
Through constant work and improvements to the farm combined with the support and help
of their friends, neighbours and first customers, they were able to build up what can be seen today.
There
are still more plans on the horizon, so they will never get bored. Time will tell, what else might be happening.
