TRAINING & BREEDING QUALITY ROCKY MOUNTAIN HORSES
A true family business!
R2 is family owned and managed by Cassie and Ryan Rose with our little cowboy, Lane.
Founded in 2010, The Roses purchased a little farm in the beautiful St. Croix River Valley. We began raising and training Quarter horses but quickly found a passion in Rocky Mountain Gaited horses.
Cassie obtained her roots (circa 1999) in Gymkhana riding a stubborn old appendix mare with the worst trot! Soon she found herself gifted with another special horse, even though she trotted, Autumn was a very reliable, grade Quarter horse. Autumn was trainable and so gentle. She set the standard for what a good horse should be in Cassie's mind.
With winning at NFR and top barrel racing events at the top of Cassie's goals and dreams, she went on to purchase her first barrel horse. Oddly, in fact, not a AQHA (like the main stamped champions at NFR) at all, but a registered Appaloosa gelding named Axl.
The team were quite the pair, hitting it off immediately and winning races (2002). But something was amiss. Cassie didn't truly have a foundation knowledge on how to make Axl work as efficiently as he could. She went to seek training and helpful articles on training horses. She became successful. Neighbors and friends began requesting training services from Cassie immediately following her success and natural ability.
About R Squared Ranch
Cassie soon found that the barrel horse world wasn't the arena to extend a high level of horsemanship, as horses often rear buck and bite their way into the pen. This was an unsatisfying part of the sport. Cassie moved on to higher education at U of W River falls where there was a profound equine program.
She learned the ways of Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt. Their methods were so perfect so essential.
Moving forward, the gelding Axl, was retrained using these methods and he was much happier!
Right out of the winter classes, Cassie was contacted by Lisa Doerr from Northern Lakes farm. She had a job offer to train Rocky Mountain Gaited horses. Cassie had never trained a horse to gait, EVER. But this was not a concern to her, she was devoted to learn something new. With the helpful advice and continued support of Cassie's soon to be husband, Ryan, she decided to take the full time gig.
Lisa Doerr taught Cassie the good, the bad, and the evil ways of the gaited horse. They strived to bring out the good in each horse they worked with. They used methods by Larry Whitesell, Nuno Olivera, and Chris Cox. Cassie was amazingly successful with the gaited breeds. Colt starting was her specialty. Lisa even said, "Cass, I will never be able to start a colt the way you do, I will leave that part to you!" Lisa continues to be a mentor to R Squared Ranch.
Needless to say Cassie was awe struck by the Rocky Mountain Horse. From Lisa, Ryan and Cassie purchased their first one. R2 now owns many Rockies with a breeding stallion and his harem. Outside of our farm, Ryan and Cassie both have careers in their respective industries. Ryan has interests in off road racing/ Technical repair/engineering. Cassie owns and operates breeding, training, consultation for gaited horses at home as well as a strong interest in Equine nutrition and practices that on the farm.
Since her debut training Rockies in 2008, in 2015 Cassie had been requested in Germany and surrounding area to train and start Rocky Mountains the right way with World Renowned feel, timing and performance! These relationships overseas continue and she still visits to train.
Cassie is a third generation farmer at heart and follows her grandfathers footsteps. Nearby, grandpa continues to operate a beef cattle farm. R2 produces home grown hay on 60 acres of rolling hills and purchase premium feed for our animals. R2 feels all horses must have the best nutrition to become great horses.
With the knowledge gained from many hours of research/ training in 4H and a formal education of horse evaluation and Hippology at the University of Wisconsin River falls, Cassie is able to spot the best prospects to use for breeding on the ranch. "If it doesn’t look good, we aren’t buying it". That also goes for beyond educated decisions in genetics and inbreeding coefficients. "I've always been a genetics enthusiast", says Cassie, "from the best color crosses to genetic disorders, I'm well aware of what to keep out of my herd", amongst more essential knowledge gained from the U of W.
As herd manager, Cassie has experience breeding and training combined with enthusiasm to turn a passion into a career. This provided the foundation for close to 20 years training experience prior to and after schooling. All horses on the farm receive the best care and folks notice! Ryan is our maintenance and operations director, keeping things working and looking great is his specialty. Cassie taught him everything she knows about horses, and he is right there beside her in the horse industry and the business they built together.