LaVesta Locklin is the founder, owner and matriarch of El Camino Ranch. She is a retired Public Health Nurse, who spent many years working at Inland Regional Center, a state mandated program for Developmentally Disabled individuals, got her Masters degree in Public Health at Loma Linda University, then she retired to find herself becoming interested in Arabian horses. She and husband, Bill,  went to an Arabian Auction in Santa Ynez, Calif., which was conducted by Mike Nichols, who was making movies, and he made a splashing presentation of the horses. That was 1983, and Bill & LaVesta bought their first Arabian, GG Magnolia, a Spanish Arabian mare, who was in foal for the following year. Later that year Bill purchased 3 other Arabian mares, also in foal, from Jay and Dorothy Stream at Greengate Farm. Well, the next year El Camino Ranch had 4 beautiful fillies, so now we had 8 mares. We purchased Amoroso de Espana, a Spanish stallion, and LaVesta went to University of California at Davis that year and earned her Certificate in Advanced Equine Reproduction. While in Loma Linda, she had studied Human Genetics, and this proved useful to her in Equine Genetics, also. She was no longer retired. She was the Breeding Manager for several years until the ranch became larger.

"El Camino purchased the 11 year old Spanish stallion, *Numaa++, for our breeding program; and we started a lesson program.  We then added another trainer, and later also a performance trainer.  LaVesta was now supervising the entire ranch, and we hired another Breeding Manager.  LaVesta is pictured with *Numaa++ in 2005, when he was 30 years old.  LaVesta spent 10 years breeding National Show Horses, and during those years was President of the California National Show Horse Association, and was on the national NSHA Board of Directors.  The NSHA Board presented LaVesta with a plaque for the years of 1994 to 2003 when she resigned and moved back to the Arabian industry.  Arabians are the horses that El Camino has always sold to our riding students, and show students, and as our clientele grew, we renamed our Lesson Department to El Camino Ranch Riding Academy.  Thus we had need for more Arabians to sell to our students.  This was our focus as we moved back to Arabian breeding, showing, and training." -LaVesta Locklin

Scott Reeves, LaVesta’s son, Is Breeding Manager here at El Camino. As a fourth generation rancher, Scotts daily tasks far exceed those traditionally given to breeding managers. Scotts responsibilities’ here at the ranch range from bandaging up the occasional wound to breeding and foaling out babies. Scott is familiar with the primary Arabian horse bloodlines. These include Spanish, Polish, Egyptian, Domestic, Crabbet, and Russian. His diligent study of bloodlines and their characteristics make him an advantage to any breeding program. He spent 6 days in Fort Collins, Colorado, in November, 2009, attending Equine Reproduction classes, including Artificial Insemination, Cooled and Frozen Semen Transport, Foaling Equine Babies, and Mare and Foal Care.

Intro to the 30 minute legacy video of William Jennings “Bill” Locklin – owner of El Camino Ranch 
and  Founder of Loran Nightscaping
 in Redlands, California.

Vandi Reeves, LaVesta’s granddaughter, grew up here at El Camino Ranch since the age of 3 years old. She always had her own pony or horse, and as she got older, it was Vandi’s “horses”. Vandi has been an active member of AHA since 1993 when she started competing in Pleasure and Equitation, in western, hunter, saddle seat english, reining, side saddle, show hack, native costume, showmanship, and in-hand halter. She and her horses won many local and regional Championships, and at 5 Arabian Youth Nationals, they won 9 Reserve Championships, and 21 Top Ten awards. During the few years that LaVesta bred NSH’s, Vandi rode and drove on the Saddlebred and National Show Horse circuits, where she served as the NSH District 7 youth representative at the age of 13.  When she was 10 years old she showed her Welsh pony, Lloydor Bryt Lyt to a National Championship in English Pleasure. Now that Vandi is an adult, She spends most of her time managing the ECR Riding Academyand Training Departments and serving as El Camino’s Sales and P.R. Manager. She is also secretary of the Rancho California Arabian Horse Association, and is works closely within Region I and II clubs. 

To contact Vandi please Email or 
txt/call her at 951.203.8144

Betsy has been our secretary, accountant, and customer relations lady for over 10 years now. She is the familiar voice that you hear when you call El Camino. If you want to schedule a lesson, orientation, birthday party, or Girl Scout troop, Betsy is the one to talk to. She is familiar with the ins and outs of everyday life here at El Camino and can answer any question that you may have.

Jeremiah brings a fun new twist to the Riding Academy with his jousting lessons. No actual jousting is involved. The lesson consists of balance and accuracy exercises involving a lance and hoops. Jeremiah also specializes in basic horsemanship, western, hunt seat, and local horse shows. He has been involved with horses since he was a small boy, and has a lot of fun teaching techniques he has picked up over his years of riding. Jeramiah is perfect for our intermediate to advanced students. Jeremiah is bringing fun new ideas to Riding Lessons, Summer Camps, Fun Days, and REC Meetings. He is always helpful and has a smile on his face. Look for him at the ranch and be sure to ask him about El Camino’s next upcoming event.  Jeremiah gives free ranch orientations every saturday!

Ashley has been riding at El Camino for years. She is now a staff member here and we are happy to have Ashley at EC giving riding lessons and birthday parties. She has had extensive horse experience that she readily shares with our EC Boot Campers whom she coaches. She specializes in games on horseback, basic horsemanship, jumping, and pony palls. She has an engaging demeanor with our pony pal students that puts them right at ease around the horses. Ashley is amazing with our beginner to intermediate students.

Johnny conditions, trains, and shows the halter horses, as well as instructs the Amateur Halter Program. He has worked for El Camino for over 15 years and has gotten to know the industry inside and out. He has worked with many horses and trainers while employed her at El Camino. He is an asset to our ranch and is most trusted to care for our horses. Johnny has a kind demeanor with the horses when setting them up to the Arabian breed standard.  This allows for a solid well mannered riding horse when it’s time to put a saddle on. The skills the babies learn while in in-hand training provide a great head start for their future performance career.

Joel has an uncanny ability to bring out the best qualities in each horse. He is a quiet rider with a strong seat and steady hands. He spend a number of years as an assistant trainer to Mark Arranaga. Before working for Arranaga Arabians, Joel worked for Darlene Hopkins at Rancho Borrego Montana. Joel has over 15 years in the Arabian Horse Industry and El Camino is proud to have Joel starting our young horses.

Bryce holds his roots on the AQHA and APHA show circuits. He has been riding and training since he was a young boy and has had experience in many breeds and disciplines. He is a sympathetic rider who can convince a horse to go through anything with a smile on their face. He has recently struck an interest in Arabians and we are happy to have him working our young breeding stock.

Marie first started riding in EC’s Riding Academy when she was only six years old. When she was almost 15 she started working part-time as a groom in the training departments. Marie has accomplish many types of disciplines including hunt seat, western, saddle seat, and most recently halter. She is a regular attendant at horse shows, weather she is showing, grooming, or providing support for our barn, Marie is a welcome sight to all of us at El Camino. She is an active bootcamp student and isn’t afraid to get a little dirty around the barn. She has definitely earned her place as El Camino’s preferred Amateur Rider and Kennel Manager.

Gregorio is a fixture here at El Camino. He has worked for EC for close to 30 years! He managed our secondary farm “El Campo” for 20 years where he cared for our young horses at pasture before moving over to our main facility El Camino. He has worked with each of our foals from the moment they are born until they are ready to enter the training barn. Gregorio is our first choice when it comes to raising our babies. Along with Scott, he is the first to teach our foals to lead, cross-tie, clip, bathe, hot-walk and eventually lunge. He is part of the reason our EC horses are so receptive to training.

Miguel is our maintenance manager. He is the man behind the scenes fixing that broken sprinkler head or fencepost. Miguel has been with El Camino for over 18 years. In addition to maintenance, he also supervises our feeding and cleaning crew. Without Miguel we would have a shabby ranch and skinny horses indeed. He is knowledgable about horses and is always the first one to catch a sick horse at 4:30am. He is dependable and produces a quality of work to be proud of. We are very happy to have such a wonderful maintenance and feed manager looking after our ranch.