AIMEE GROEN
Ranch Director
I have been horse crazy ever since I can remember. The church I grew up in had a ministry called Salinas Community Youth Ranch that started when I was 13. My single mom got married when I was 15 and my new dad bought me my first horse. She was a feisty little bay mustang mare named Cinnamon. I would ride my bike to the ranch on the outskirts of town after school where I would clean my stall and ride western.
After I graduated from high school I got the opportunity to attend a horsemastership program styled after the British Horse Society program, because our instructor was British. We did classroom work, worked with green horses and rode hunter/jumpers. I did that for two years and learned so much. Following that, I was a working student under Jennifer Roth and studied dressage. I purchased an off-the-track Appy/Thoroughbred and started showing him training level dressage. I named him Lancelot. We did so well that he was the top appaloosa in the nation at training level.
I eventually got married and started a family. I decided to sell Lancelot. In 1996 we moved overseas and lived in Hungary and Slovakia as missionaries for 6 years. I managed to find horses to ride there also. I learned how to do archery from horseback. There are some amazing horses and horsemen in Hungary.
When we moved back to California, we bought some land and a few horses for our kids and they were able to do a little showing through 4H. They also raised swine and steers. I didn’t ride much but would hop on our family horses from time to time.
In 2010, I heard Kim Meeder on a Focus on the Family talk about her ministry, Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch. I ordered her books, Hope Rising and A Bridge Called Hope. I was selling Real Estate at the time and I remember reading the books in my office with tears streaming down my face. I was so moved by her stories of healing and redemption of both child and horse that I felt God calling me to start a similar ministry.
In 2011, I launched the Triple H Youth Ranch 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The three ‘H’s stand for Horses, Hearts and Healing. Our vision is to share God’s love with emotionally at risk youth. THYR has ministered to foster kids, inner city kids, and kids who have been through difficult situations. I also teach private riding lessons there.
In 2017, I bought myself a 3 year old gelding from Hope’s Chance Horse Sanctuary and named him Picasso. He was born at the rescue and started by Steve Bauhr. Steve spoke highly of him which gave me confidence to buy such a young green horse. I have really enjoyed training him and we have a wonderful partnership. I have shown him Working Equitation and am also schooling him in dressage.
I am so thankful that God has allowed me to pursue my passion. I believe that God can use our passions to reach a hurting world. That’s why I began THYR, so that I could share my love for Jesus and horses with others.
I also want to thank my dear husband Tom. It hasn’t always been easy for him to see all the time and money we have spent on our horses. He has been gracious to put up with his horse crazy wife!
MARIAN MCNICOL
Treasurer
I first heard about Triple H Youth Ranch when I was 69 years old and riding at a hunter-jumper barn in Oakdale. It felt like God was calling me. Here was a ranch devoted to using horses to help children who’d had a rough start in life. And they were asking for my help.
I had a rough start in life, born to a chronically ill mother and a father who was always gone, working long hours to provide for our mother, my 3 brothers and me. I always felt alone, and for unknown reasons, I loved horses. I was obsessed with them, found solace in reading about them, drew them, dreamed of them, talked of them, and occasionally had an opportunity to be around them. Every moment I was allowed near a horse, I felt safer, stronger, reassured, loved, acknowledged and alive.
It wasn’t until age 62 that I was in a position to take formal riding lessons. I was still working full time, but began on weekends, learning the basics of riding and horsemanship. From the very first lesson, every cell in my body became electrified and alive. It was unmistakable. I knew I was being called down a path that I didn’t quite understand, but I followed.
Every minute from then on that I wasn’t working, I became devoted to horses. I learned basics in a western saddle, leased a couple of horses, rode into the hills of Martinez, trained in the arena, tried some barrel racing. I took two trips to Ireland to ride Connemaras around the Irish countryside and on the beaches of Galway. At age 65, I retired and moved to Modesto. I always wanted to ride English, so I found a hunter-jumper barn and spent 3 years learning to jump, not an easy thing for a 68-year old beginning rider, but the most exhilarating thing I’d ever done. When I was 69, my horse and I won a blue ribbon and division champion at a low level of jumping, but I fulfilled a dream of a lifetime.
My life then focused on Triple H Youth Ranch where I’d been volunteering for a year. I believe that God gives us gifts and calls us to be of service to others. During my years of learning to ride and work with horses, I felt happy, but I often asked myself what good I was doing for other people.
At Triple H, my entire life, including the hardships, comes together and shows me how I can serve God and others in spite of my handicaps, or because of them. I relate personally to the children who attend our ministry sessions. I know how it feels to have a parent missing, to be bullied, to be moved around, to be neglected. My own experience gives me a frame of reference to reach these children. My love of horses and experience with their healing powers shows me what these interactions do for children. I marvel at witnessing the horses do their work, just by being there, and seeing these innocent children come to life as I once did, in the presence of God’s amazing love and generosity.
The parents and guardians of these children tell us what a difference we make in their children’s lives. I know what a difference horses made in my own life. If I can play a part in helping children feel safe, strong, reassured, loved, acknowledged and alive, I’ll thank God for the blessing.