HOW IT STARTED
In 1983, my ex-husband Dennis and I were two middle-level managers at
Pacific Bell, looking for something to focus on outside the increasingly
stressful atmosphere of corporate America.
Dennis used his company-initiated relocation as an opportunity
to buy a small ranch in Sunol, California. He then bought and rode his first
horse. I found myself riding again.
We were hooked- our future was going to have something to do with horses.
Then we went to the 1984 LA Olympics, and we knew that these were
the horse sports for us.
Dennis was the first one to get an opportunity to live this out- he
took a "golden parachute" out of his job in 1984 and went to work as an
independent management consultant. We bought broodmares and started
a small Appaloosa breeding operation on his 4 acres.
One of the first questions that we get usually concerns the name of this ranch.
It is named for the two of us and our background. "Denville" was a combination of Dennis' name
and the name of our nearest town- Danville.
"Kanani" represents my background- Hawaii born and raised.
The word means "beautiful", and that is how we see our ranch! All of our horses also
have Hawaiian names - a constant reminder of home for me.
We enjoyed different "Olympic" riding disciplines. I still focus on dressage, while Dennis preferred three-day eventing while he was a part of the ranch. At first we did all our riding and showing by ourselves - we had a part-time trainer and the ranch identity primarily evolved around our Appaloosa breeding program. However, we did manage to have a few riding successes in the mid-80's.
 Kris and O-So-Fair (Appy/TB Mare) USDF All Breed Champions 70%+ scores at Training Hi-Point at many shows |
 Dennis and Mr World(Appy/TB Geld) Multiple wins at Novice Eventing Grand Nationals Jumping Champions ApHC Nat'l Champs-Non-Pro Jumpers |
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