Horse riding, Guam

Horses of Sleepy Meadows Ranch  

There are two public horse ranches on Guam.

The longest running ranch on Guam is Rock and Rail Ranch where the dressage tradition is carried on by  Mrs. Charlene Tenorio. Mrs. Tenorio has been caring for horses on Guam for thirty years and is the horsewoman of Guam. Second, is Horses of Sleepy Meadows Ranch, a 10 acre Western style ranch teaching basic riding instruction and safe horsemanship. Sleepy Meadows is owned by MIss Rosalina San Nicolas and Mr. Patrick K. Sakai who is the horseman, trainer, and lead instructor. 

Several private horse ranches exist on Guam and each of their owners carry on horsemanship at different levels and provide their horses different levels of care.  One demonstrates enormous financial committment to caring for and providing the horses a safe and comfortable environment, at another you will find fine horses covered with ticks and standing in a small pen with a tarp for shade, a third you'll see horses penned up with caribou, another, horses tied to a stake without water until the owner comes to pasture the animal and provide a bucket of water.

Unfortunately, on Guam because of the lack of fenced in grazing areas and lack of effective ranch management techniques you find many cows, horses, goats, tethered at the ends of ropes staked to the ground with a rebar. Owners move their animals spot to spot as the feed runs out. The animals are never afforded the opportunity to freely graze or strech their limbs.  Such is the situation of these fine animals on Guam.

Owning and properly caring for a horse on Guam takes an enormous financial committment. Feed costs are astronomial and the lack of a farrier and equine veterinarian makes the challenge even greater. The committment to owning horses on Guam takes a "never-quit" attitude. Typhoons, illness, injuries, and personal difficulties can dampen one's enthusiasm for raising horses on Guam.  Those who chose to continue raising horses at the highest levels of care are to be commended for their committment to these fine animals. To these wonderful people may you always surmount any difficulty and continue to preserve this tradition for the next generation.