Lady Raven Stables started as a dream many years ago. LeeAnn had a dream to have a working horse ranch when she was young, Ray just went along for the ride (quite literally), that dream seemed obtainable. Through wise investing and being land poor for many years, her dream came to fruition.

LeeAnn & Ray got together during college in the early 80's, of coarse they were young and without, like many couples starting out. Part of the acceptance protocol for male suitors was that the horses and dog (Smokey) had to be in acceptance. Ray met that criteria, of coarse being a "no fear" kid helped. Charlie was still ridable and Smokey didn't take a chunk out of his hide so what was next... marriage!

LeeAnn had Charlie from the time she was 12 years old, thanks to her Great Aunt Ruth who spoiled her. Charlie was Quarter Horse, who LeeAnn barrel raced; and she had an Arab named Sparky who was used for endurance competitions. Sparky had a filly named Artesian Dream (Tease), a yearling when Ray & LeeAnn met. Tease was born in the shadow of St. Helen's ash. Tease would follow Ray around Aunt Ruth's yard like a puppy.

Ray's background is just as mentioned before a "no fear" kid, who rode anything (giant Black Labs, horses, pack-mules, machines), from the time he was little, just because he could catch them. When Ray asked "can I ride em". The response would be "if you can catch em"... Can't recall a time when he couldn't catch em. His little brother usually got in on the action as well... Hang on... Ye haw!! Now he's a little old but still enjoys a good rodeo.

To make it through college LeeAnn had to sell Sparky, to pay tuition and buy books. Through the years, there were Charlie & Tease as well as children (Josh, Adam, & Alex), ponies, small ranches (horsy acres) and finally the purchase of the family ranch (land poor) and onto Lady Raven Stables.

The Lady Raven logo came from the original horse that lived here, Lady and a couple of her Raven friends. Lady was 34 years old at the time. We bought our home from Lady's owner Lona. Unfortunately, Lona was down-sizing and moving to town. Lona figured Lady being pretty old and would end up at the auction after she moved. We told Lona when we bought the place that Lady seemed pretty comfortable and didn't require much, and she could leave her with us and we would take care of her. Lona was grateful, because no one likes to take there long-time friend to auction, and Lady was comfortably 'out to pasture'.

That first winter Lady posed with her Raven friends (birds) on her back. They seemed to have a pretty good relationship, Lady had a warm body, bugs wouldn't freeze, Raven's ate bugs, good "photo-op". Ray took the picture through the Dining Room window, full 10 power zoom, on auto, 200 yards out. Here is the original unaltered picture.