My story, and why this ranch
I am Erika Harding. I spent most of my life looking for a place to belong and a purpose to go with it. The first place I ever found it was in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside Las Vegas, New Mexico. Now I am going back there to build it for somebody else.
Two camps and a horseman
From about age nine to thirteen, I spent my summers at two camps in the Mineral Hill area. Camp Monakiwa was a Camp Fire Girls camp, all girls, where earning a patch for something you had accomplished was a very big deal. Camp Blue Haven was a Church of Christ camp, and what stayed with me from there was the community.
The two camps gave me a sense of belonging in different ways. What they shared, besides those mountains, was Eloy Trujillo, who ran the horses for both. I was obsessed. Eloy has long since passed, but he is a big part of why horses and belonging have always gone together for me.
I still have lifelong friends from those summers. And yes, I think patches would be a lot of fun at Rocking Star Ranch.
Music and a full table
In the years that followed, music became my community. I sang in choir all through junior high and high school, and I am still dear friends with many of those people. Later I played in a variety of bands and loved that world.
Every Thanksgiving we held what we called our peasant feast, and invited every friend who had nowhere to go. Christmas Eve was a music jam. I have always loved having people in my home, feeding them, and hearing music and laughter fill the place. Raising money and pitching in for my community have been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
The V6
Then came the V6 Ranch, and Barb and John Varian. They took me in like family and stood by me through some of the hardest times of my life. John built a little chapel out on the ranch with these words across the top: Horses give us the opportunity to call each other friends. I have carried that line with me ever since.
Keenan
From the time he was small, it was clear my son Keenan felt things deeply.
When he was about five, he was obsessed with muscles. He asked my brother if he was very strong. My brother, in his patient way, told him it is not only important to be strong in your body, but also strong in your mind and strong in your heart. About a year later, Keenan and I were in a coffee shop where a woman was reading palms. She looked at his little hand and told him he was going to be very strong when he grew up. He put his hands on his hips and asked her: strong in my heart, strong in my mind, or strong in my body?
That was who he was.
He walked early and was gifted at anything athletic. As he got older, the competition of team sports did not sit right with him. He found his way to BMX racing, skateboarding, and surfing. The ocean became his church, the place where he found peace.
He followed in his mom’s footsteps and went to beauty school. When he got nervous his palms would pour sweat, and he was terrified to do women’s hair. He was so good at it anyway. Later, during his years at Beacon House, he went to culinary school. Cooking was something he was born with. He never stuck to a recipe. He would just open the refrigerator and create. Culinary school taught him baking, and he loved it.
He had one of the kindest spirits I have ever known, and a calmness about him. He also had a wicked sense of humor. He loved pranking his friends, and there was always an inside joke.
Keenan had four years of sobriety in that very structured program. Then he stepped out into regular life: an apartment, a job, a car, a girlfriend. Then covid hit. There was no good bridge between that structure and the real world, and we lost him to a fentanyl overdose.
I can’t change what happened to Keenan. I can build a bridge.
The ones still finding their way
I have also had two foster kids in my world. One of them is still part of my life, and he is working his way through that same hard step into adulthood right now. From where I sit today, I can’t give him all the help he needs. A place like this ranch could.
What I bring to it
I have been a business owner and a teacher for more than 35 years. I own a salon and I am still behind the chair five days a week. On top of that, I travel the country teaching horse owners first aid for their animals, and I ride as a Ventura County Sheriff’s Mounted Volunteer.
I teach because I learn more as a teacher than I ever do as a student. What I have learned in my years of teaching has made me a better human.
I also know how to feed a crowd, and how to keep a business standing through lean years. As for horses, I will never feel like I know them. I am still learning every day, and they are always teaching me. That is the beauty of horses.
What the ranch will be
Rocking Star Ranch will be a place to land between structure and real life. Honest work, good people, music, a full table, open country near Hermit Peak, and horses who are glad you showed up. It is for veterans, for young people leaving foster care, and for folks in recovery.
We are starting small on purpose. If any part of this speaks to you, come along with me.
Want to be a part of this?
If my story spoke to you, I would love to hear from you. Send me a note, or check the box to get ranch updates by email.