Our Program

Welcome to our Woroniecki Ranch Quarter Horses program located in southwestern North Dakota near the community of Hebron. We are Warren and Jodie Woroniecki with our children, Jordan-30, Adam-26, Ella-25, Carson-21 and Ryan-20. We feel fortunate to live where and how we do. Thank you for taking the time to look through our site. You will see pictures that show our western lifestyle and how our horses are routinely handled.

Our website banner picture at the top of the page sums up four key elements of our quarter horse program--the horses, the people, the cattle and the terrain--showing horses aged 2 to 23 and people aged 8 to 73. We are three generations of ranchers working together---brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, children, cousins, spouses, fathers, mothers and grandparents. We respect and appreciate our good old horses and continue to ride and develop young horses. This is a picture of two year old heifers being moved to a new pasture for the first time and they had no idea where they were going. There are 184 cows plus their calves and bulls in that bunch. It is unfortunate that they were so bunched up, but the point is that this kind of work makes for a good work ethic for both the young horses and the kids as they have jobs to do early in life.

Our quarter horse program is just one portion of a commercial cattle ranch running approximately 1000 cows that is owned and operated collectively with various family members on approximately 13,000 acres. Horses have always played a necessary and an instrumental work and management role for the ranch. Much of our landscape terrain is rugged and horses can go places that pickups and four wheelers cannot.

On any given day, four to ten horses can be saddled for the days’ work of moving, gathering or sorting various groups of cattle. During calving season at least one horse is always saddled in 8 hour shifts 24 hours a day and ready for whatever regular or emergency task is needed. Our calving horses perform duties such as dragging a calf sled to bring a calf in from poor weather conditions, patiently moving newborn calves following their mothers, bringing in a calf slung over the saddle, roping a cow or calf as needed for doctoring, covering large pastures or smaller corrals, and standing patiently until they are needed. Young horses get good and broke during calving season.

In addition to cattle work, horses are used to ride the pastures and check for noxious weeds that need spraying or fences that needs fixing. Our horses have good dispositions and are used to “going to work” and then being rewarded at the end of the day when turned back out to pasture for a good old roll. Our horses get used to being hauled and trailered and most of them don’t get the chance to become barn sour or buddy dependent. They are taught they have a job to do and they do it. We are especially proud that our children can take the ranch horses to town to competitively compete in rodeos and 4-H horse events. Our horses and children have participated in parades and have shown in poles, barrels, goat tying, halter, reining, horsemanship, western riding and trail classes at the local, county and state levels.

When not working, you might find us doing a variety of competitive, educational or recreational horse activities. Most recently, Ella and Warren participated in a Craig Cameron “Original Extreme Cowboy Race” and a colt starting clinic in Watford City, North Dakota (Jodie’s home town).

Our mares foal out on pasture. Some foals are handled at birth. We try to handle the rest during their first week of life. They become very used to us moving about their pastures and either they approach us or they take no notice of or alarm in our presence. They continue to be gently handled during times we work with the mares or bring them all in for topical fly protection. Our foals learn early on that humans are not a threat to them. The mares are easy to work with and that really sets a nice behavior foundation for the foals. There is more information available on our mares and foals pages.

All of our horses, from broodmares and yearlings to saddle horses, are allowed to run in open pastures and learn to travel up and down creeks and gullies, cross water, drink from natural water sources and water fountains, navigate brush and trees and just be horses. In the winter they are still allowed to free range for exercise and forage but are given hay and a protein/fiber supplements as needed for their age, group etc. We own and operate our own feed consulting and ration balancing business, Prairie Nutrition Center, Inc. Therefore, Warren closely monitors the mineral, vitamin, energy, protein and other nutrient requirements for the various ages and work levels of the horses. Woroniecki Ranch All Around is a pelleted 14% protein, 18% high soluble fiber feed that we developed for use for pre-foaling mares to weanling and yearling development to working performance horses. In addition to the health benefits, it really aids in reproduction, performance, stamina and focus. Horses do NOT get hot on this feed--it provides them a focus for whatever their job is. We do our best to nutritionally prepare our foals and young horses for a long, healthy life and that starts with the mare's nutrition. All of our horses receive adequate foot care and de-worming and appropriate vaccinations. Feel free to contact us concerning any questions on these topics.

Please take time to look at our mares, foals, and stallions pages to get a better idea of our breeding philosophy and bloodlines. We strive for those horses with the ability to go in many directions. We need and use good horses here on the ranch and we try to offer the kind of horses that we would want for ourselves. These horses should be able to go on and do any task. Thanks for taking the time to view our website. Feel free to call or email with any questions.


Jodie & Warren Woroniecki

 

7075 28th St.
Hebron, ND 58638
701-878-4088
woronieckiranch@westriv.com

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