Von Holten Ranch

12/01/2025

Guess what you will NEVER see on any of our social media pages? You will never see a post generated by AI.

12/01/2025

11/29/2025

To be loved by a horse ….
got to be one of the best feelings in the world.

Having a relationship and responsibility to a different species makes life even more spectacular.

11/25/2025

We hit 20,000 Facebook followers!!

Typically we grow by 1,500 followers a year. But we increased by 1,000 followers in the last 10 days!!

Our page started in January 2014. The first picture of us is in March 2014. The picture on the right was taken two days ago.

When we started the dream of Von Holten Ranch, it was met with doubts from everyone: family and friends and sometimes ourselves. It was a huge adventure and we are glad we didn’t know what lied in store for us.

There wasn’t a manual for Von Holten Ranch.

Facebook and our website are our primary forms of communication. We do have a monthly newsletter, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok.

We appreciate the equine family having the ranch has created in our lives. So, to the new 1K followers, welcome to the family and FUN!

We will celebrate every 1K new followers. We hope to make more of these posts. ❤️

11/24/2025

Our bull is chewing cud. Kind of gross, but then necessary.

How it works
1. First swallow:
The animal quickly eats grass or other plant material and swallows it mostly unchewed.
2. Storage in the rumen:
The food goes into a special stomach compartment called the rumen, where microbes start breaking it down.
3. Regurgitation:
Later, the animal brings a portion of that partially digested food back up into its mouth.
This bolus is called cud.
4. Chewing the cud:
The animal chews this cud slowly and thoroughly, which helps break down tough plant fibers.
5. Swallowing again:
After chewing it well, the animal swallows the cud again so it can move through the rest of the digestive system.

Why animals chew cud
• It allows them to extract more nutrients from fibrous plants.
• It lets them eat quickly (useful in the wild) and then digest safely later.
• It supports a healthy balance of microbes in the rumen.

11/23/2025

KTM and his flehman response. He was objecting to our friend’s massage oil hands.

When I was a child, our vet came to us after going to another farm. The vet had to pull a foal from mare at his previous stop. Our whole herd kept doing the flehman response to him. He was stinky and they told him repeatedly.

Search your photos and let’s see your horse’s best flehman response!

11/22/2025

Guess what David Von Holten enjoys?

He has a tree puller attachment for the skid steer. He has been cleaning out around the hay field in preparation of improving perimeter fences.

This will allow us to increase our hay production and maintain fences better. We also appreciate everything just being tidier.

As an added bonus, we will have a bonfire later in winter. We do this either after a rain or snow when there is no wind.

This photo looks like a mess. It’s just like deep cleaning your house. It gets worse before it gets better. Trust the process.

11/21/2025

Glamour has impeccable tastes choosing lush grass.

JoJo is always going for this pile of weeds. He’s a goat stuck in a mule’s body.

JoJo also enjoys Fritos, Coors Lite, gummy bears, any fruit I put in front of him, and Sonic peppermints.

He is such a foodie, but this ragweed is his favorite❤️

11/19/2025

All of the non permanent fence panels have been taken down and stacked. The next step is to pull up the t-posts and dig down to the concrete footings on the west and north ends. From there, we will bolt permanent posts to the concrete. The arena will be worked up to determine what needs to be added before placing the t-posts and the non permanent arena panels to the south and east perimeter.

It’s kind of like deep cleaning your house. No one will notice all the effort but they would notice if you didn’t do it. This is one of the upgrades that goes into the mystical categories of “VHR is nice” but you can’t put your finger on why.

This covered arena is used for the Country Tough Trail Versatility competitions, clinics, and by guests when a competition or clinic is not scheduled.

There are only four written rules and one unwritten rule.
1. Keep the arena gate closed.
2. Remove all manure left by your equine.
3. Put up anything you get out.
4. Do not tie to the arena. (There are five hitching posts at the arena for everyone to use.)

Unwritten rule.
1. Tell us immediately if something is wrong. We can’t fix it if we don’t know.

11/18/2025

That’s a pretty smooth carrot eating technique JoJo has figured out.

Glamour eats like a dainty princess with small bites. KTM eats like a raccoon in a dumpster. Peppercorn drops some in the dirt and then eats the dirty piece. Lady (dog) eats a carrot to keep the horses from eating all the treats

How does your horse/equine eat a carrot?

11/16/2025

Wow!!! Just wanted to say thank you!!

We reached 19K followers two days ago, and then this morning we are at 19,365!
I remember the excitement of reaching 100 followers.

Social media is our primary form of communication with our clients other than our website.

We read every comment, message, and look at every share that we are able to see. Thank you for making Von Holten Ranch successful❤️

2026 will be our 12th year in business and 120th year family owned.

-David & Brandy Von Holten

11/16/2025

Welcome to unglamorous upgrades🏆 that mean the world 🌎 to us.

1. The pipe fence posts really change the whole feel around the covered arena. It defines the mounted archery 🏹 course and pastures.

2. David is adding a lean-to shed to the side of the sawmill/kiln building for the Bobcat attachments. Concrete was poured for the lean-to structures.

3. Concrete was poured for the second entrance into the barn and a pad for the horse statue to go between the doors. A porch will be added over each door and over the horse statue.

The fence and the porches will be visible from the parking lot of the covered arena.

Hoping the weather holds and we can have a productive remainder of 2025.