OUR STORY
ROWLY & CATHIE'S STORY...
Rowly grew up in Carrisa Plains, California, a ranching and farming community about 50 miles East of San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, California with his parents Darrell and Nola Twisselman and 7 other brothers and sisters. I was born and raised in San Luis Obispo, California with my parents, Alex and Phyllis Madonna, 2 sisters and a brother. Both of us have had horses since we could walk. Maybe even sooner.
Rowly & I met in 1972, dated for 6 years, got married in 1978 and raised 3 children, Caleb, Teale and Tara (all of whom are pretty accomplished riders themselves). During the six years we dated, we attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA where we majored in Ag Business, rode colts, roped and rodeo'd on the Cal Poly Rodeo Team for 4 years. During this time we started buying and raising horses together with my dad. Our goal was to NEVER breed a mare that we didn’t ride and like ourselves FIRST and that’s the way we’ve kept it. We figured that if they worked for us as riding, roping, showing and just all around ranch or “using” horses, they’d probably raise good babies. Our theory proved to be true! We love the horses that we’ve raised and they’ve done very well not only for us, but for our family and many others both in the Amatuer & Professional Ranks.
Over 40 years ago, our main goal was to raise horses that could & would do everything & anything! This means horses that have Versatility, Disposition, Confirmation, Desirable Bloodlines, Athletic Ability, Soundness & Speed.
Besides raising the type of horses that WE personally like & love, we've also been trying to raise horses that will fit EVERYONE'S individual wants and needs as well. We actually try to fit horses to the people and people to the horses.
I'm happy to say that we think our goal has been met.
THE TWISSELMAN RANCH
Besides raising horses at MADONNA INN QUARTER HORSES, we also live on and run a large cattle ranch in Carrisa Plains, CA called THE FLYING T CATTLE COMPANY. Our cattle ranch used to consist of hundreds of X-Bred Cows, Calves and Bulls, but because of the drought that the West has had for the past 4-5 years, we had to sell our whole herd. Now we just run Corriente Roping Steers (and a few Corriente Cows) that we import directly from Mexico .
With these steers we conduct a very good Roping Steer Business that runs all over California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Montana, Idaho & Arizona. We supply cattle to individual Roping Events, such as the ACTRA, WCRA, USTRC & WSTR Associations. We also supply cattle to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Assn.
We come from a real western ranch and rodeo family that's been here in Carrisa Plains for 8 generations. Our family not only consists of Professional Rodeo Cowboys, we've also got very achieved Horsemen/Horsewomen as well. Our ranch has been mostly family run as far back as I can remember but we also love to take in people who want & love to learn about Horses, Cattle & the American/Western Way of Life.
Ranch house
Meals prepared fresh everyday
Horseback Riding Lessons
Team Roping Lessons
BBQ & Fire Pit Area
with Hunting, Target shooting & fishing
in our private ponds
gathering, Sorting, & Branding Lessons
site seeing & Hiking
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