The Spirit of the Horse - a mini-retreat for women 

September 10th-12th, 2010


 
 
Discover your power, beauty and strength as you work with and ride horses during this weekend-long retreat. 
 
The Location: Big View Ranch, situated on 37 picturesque acres in Golden, CO, offers spectacular vistas in all directions.  This special place, nestled in the foothills and just 30 minutes from downtown Denver, captures Colorado's majestic alpine atmosphere without a lengthy drive into the mountains.
 
Friday: Arrive and check-in at the hotel between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.  At 5 p.m. we'll take a short drive through beautiful Golden Gate Canyon to the ranch for cocktails and dinner followed by dessert and a campfire.  Enjoy watching the stars come out and the lights come on in Denver before we return to the hotel for the night.
 
Saturday:  Start off the day with a delicious continental breakfast served at the ranch. Your day will include a trail ride and "Lessons of the Horse" session with lunch served at the ranch.  Later in the afternoon we'll return to the hotel and enjoy a wonderful dinner as a group at the restaurant.

Trail Ride: Explore beautiful Big View Ranch and the magnificent adjoining open space on horseback.  This guided trail ride is designed to inspire you and heighten your connection to yourself, your horse, and the beautiful scenery around you.

Lessons of the Horse:  Discover your inner strengths and leadership style in this interactive, hands-on session. A licensed professional counselor guides you through this unique process, helping you better understand yourself and how you interact and relate with others.

Sunday: Begin with breakfast at the ranch and complete your weekend with a very special and meaningful group process to anchor your personal "ah-ha" moments at the ranch.  Then we'll say our goodbyes, return to the hotel in time to check-out, and by noon have you on your way back home with wonderful memories of your time at the ranch.
 
 Rates: 
  
$675 per person double occupancy, meals included  
(two queen-sized beds)
 
$725 per person double occupancy, meals included
(mini suite, one bed, one couch)
 
$825 single occupancy, meals included
(king sized bed) 

To reserve your space, purchase below, or contact Kathryn Severns at 303-725-2301 or BigViewRanch@gmail.com

Room choices

2 Qu beds, p/person Dbl occ $675.00 Mini-suite, 1 bed & 1 couch, p/pers Dbl occ $725.00 Private room, king bed $825.00

Join us for a beautiful evening on the patio of the Melting Pot in Historic Downtown Littleton.  Proceeds from your dining will create scholarships for our Equine Therapy clients.  $70 per person:   

Fondue Dinner & Dessert on the beautiful patio of
The Melting Pot of Littleton

All proceeds go towards scholarships and equipment  for our Equine Therapy Program

Wednesday, September 8th
(rain date September 15th)

Champagne and Martinis at 5:30 p.m.
Dinner at 6:00 p.m.

$70 per person
Purchase tickets at
www.BigViewRanch.com 
or call  303-278-3351




----------------------------------------------------------

 

Clear Creek Books signing event

 

 

      Book $14.95

I Am Not Supposed To Be Here
Kate Dendrinos-Rickel, Shawn Rickel and Steve Marsh
    
This powerful story of hope, love, and never giving up is sure to inspire anyone going through a health or physical challenge where the situation looks bleak. 

It is the true story of Kate Dendrinos-Rickel’s incredible journey back to health after a motorcycle accident in 2002. 

Initially and in her years of recovery after the accident she should have died not once, not twice, but three times and fought her way back to wholeness in spite of impossible odds.
 
      
Following are excerpts from the book:

Chapter 1: The Accident

For an instant, Shawn believes he blacked out. When he returned to consciousness, he felt a surge of pain shoot through his body like the jolt of grabbing a live electrical wire.  The bike fishtailed to the left, and Kate held on with all she had. They hit the back bumper of the truck, knocking off their right-side saddlebag. The bike wobbled out of control. The force of the collision caused Kate to lose her grip on Shawn. She flew off the bike and landed in the street several feet east of the intersection.

As the motorcycle slid out from underneath him, Shawn catapulted over the handlebars of the bike. When he hit the pavement, Shawn covered his head and slid forty feet. He heard the motorcycle’s mirrors shattering as the bike flipped three more times, the engine downshifting with each crack against the pavement.  Fredo, still on his bike, perceived the accident in slow motion. He watched in terror and disbelief as Shawn’s body shot past him and slid along the pavement. Fredo quickly stopped his bike while screaming, “Shawn! Are you okay?!”

When at last Shawn raised himself up, he had one thought: Where was Kate? He saw her lying on her back in the middle of the striping between the two eastbound lanes of Alameda. She wasn’t moving.
 

Chapter 2: Endless Interrogation

A marked squad car arrived on the scene along with the ambulance. A uniformed Denver police officer surveyed the site, and then talked to Shawn and Fredo as the ambulance whisked Kate away to a downtown hospital.

Shawn and Fredo told the officer about the elderly woman who had illegally turned in front of them. Witnesses to the accident said that the white truck disappeared before they could get close enough to see identifying plates or markings. The accident had become a hit-and-run crime scene.

A split-second disaster quickly turned into a living nightmare for Shawn—one he couldn’t escape. All he wanted to do was get to Kate’s side, but there were questions to answer and affidavits to complete. After Shawn and Fredo gave their report to the uniformed officer, the Denver Police Department investigative team arrived, and they would not let Shawn leave. Strangely, the detectives did not receive either the report from the first officer on the scene with information from witnesses about the truck that had caused the accident or Shawn’s and Fredo’s statements.

FREDO:
A uniformed cop had us sit down at the corner and fill out paper work. He was the only one who knew there were two bikes. Later, detectives showed up and started their investigation. I was hanging back, watching a detective go over the skid marks. He was combining the skid marks of both bikes, thinking the marks belonged to one bike—Shawn’s. I pointed this out to Shawn, and Shawn later tried to explain it, but the detectives were just ignoring what he was telling them. They didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

While one of the investigators surveyed the scene, the other talked to Shawn. The investigators kept Shawn at the scene of the accident questioning him over and over about the details.

Chapter 5: We Can’t Wait

Shawn’s cell phone rang as he drove from his townhouse to the hospital and threaded his truck in and out of the Tuesday morning, rush-hour traffic. Something about the phone number looked familiar. When he realized it was the ICU calling, he started to feel queasy. The nurse on the other end of the line said that Kate’s intracranial pressure, or ICP, had suddenly spiked. Her remaining brain tissue was now pushing its way through the top of her skull, and it would kill her. The nurse went on to say the only procedure that could save her life required the removal of a “bone flap,” a piece of skull roughly the size of a hand.

Shawn didn’t understand why they were asking him for permission. When Shawn had rushed to Kate’s side after the accident, hospital staff had flatly refused him permission to see her or to make any medical decisions on her behalf since they were not married nor was he named in her Medical Power of Attorney. The nurse went on to say she had tried to reach Kate’s parents, but they were in transit between their hotel and the hospital and couldn’t be reached. There was no time to wait.

Shawn fumbled for words and asked them to wait for Kate’s parents to arrive. He reminded the nurse again that he did not have authority to act on Kate’s behalf. She replied, “It’s time to dispense with formalities. If we don’t do this procedure right now, it won’t be ‘maybe,’ Kate will die.” Shawn again told the nurse that Kate’s parents were on their way. The nurse was insistent: “We can’t wait.”

A myriad of scenarios and thoughts raced through Shawn’s head: What if something went wrong with the procedure and Kate died? He didn’t have Medical Power of Attorney. Would the police prosecute him? How could he face her parents if she didn’t make it? Shawn drew in a sharp breath.

“Do it!” he said and snapped the phone shut.