Privately owned and family operated Copper Meadows Equestrian Center sits at the heart of Ramona, CA a small town forty miles northeast of downtown San Diego.  The ranch resides in the so-called Sun Valley, named for its persistent golden days year round.  Copper Meadows was established in 1999 by Carolyn Hoffos, a longtime Eventer and horse lover. 

Her vision was to create a facility that catered to riders, an event and boarding operation that showcased things that were practical to serious riders.  Carolyn has been riding most of her life, having bought her first pony at the age of 11 for $150.  She now owns two Preliminary event horses, Gustav and Peter the Great and travels extensively to compete.  All her show experience Carolyn relates played a part in her designing of Copper Meadows.  Carolyn engineered the layout of the entire facility with help from course designers Roger Haller, Bert Wood, her husband and family.  Her instincts about layout are spot-on: Copper flows well and there is ample room on the 65 acre ranch to house 200 horses and people come competition time. 

Carolyn and her husband, Robin Hoffos, live on the property as well and though the house is close to the barns it gives the appearance of being tucked away in a corner of the property.  At the opposite corner from the Hoffos residence is the well divided parking lot and spacious warm-up arena.  There are three other arenas as well: one full length, lighted dressage court, one 150 x 300 jump arena and a smaller lighted jump arena. All these arenas are connected by well maintained decomposed granite paths, lined in areas with grass.  Centrally located is a grassy area with a permanent wood ‘snack shack,’ surrounded by towering eucalyptus trees and growing pines.  This is the center of the action at horse shows: food service is set up at the shack, and vendors bring their mobile tack stores to set up shop. 

The outside of the main jump arena is lined with leafy trees as well, and a manicured slope with flowers and indigenous trees sits as the backdrop to the dressage arena.   There is one permanent barn on the grounds, used for Carolyn’s horses, and eight temporary barns.  Rounding out the available stabling are 40 pipe corrals.  The pipe corrals are spacious, measuring 24 x 24, and each features a raised, covered area filled with sand.  The main temporary barn, located next to the permanent barn, has been altered a bit to provide boarders with larger stalls.  The mid-portion of the barn has been removed, creating 10 x 20 stalls.  All told there are about forty horses on the property.  Carolyn employs three full-time workers to clean stalls twice a day, blanket and feed all the horses, and care for the facility.  One of the most striking things about Copper is how clean the grounds are.  Carolyn’s employees take seriously the job of keeping up the grounds, and it shows.

Another asset to Copper Meadows are the two full time event trainers located on the grounds.  Jennifer Wooten, who owns and runs Trinity Farm, operates her training service out of Copper, and Sarah Vandenburg keeps her Briarwood Training School at Copper also.  Each have a barrage of students, and teach full time on the grounds.  In addition both trainers are active in local and long-distance shows.  All of the boarders at Copper Meadows are in full training with one of the two on-site trainers, which creates an atmosphere of friendly competitiveness and camaraderie.             

In addition to the housing and training at Copper, Carolyn put on a full level cross-country course. Events have run three times a year since 2000 from Beginner Novice to Advanced.  A talked about feature of the Copper shows among other things are the prizes.  Having evented for many years Carolyn felt that giving back to the competitors was of the utmost importance.  Every division boasts prizes to at least fourth place and ribbons to sixth, and the prizes are more than just tail brushes or horse shampoo.  Last year Copper gave away Fleeceworks saddle pads, one per each division, each valued at over $110.00.  Also given away at virtually every show are premium leather halters with engraved nameplates.  Copper Meadows saddle pads, Ariat duffle bags, gift certificates to Mary’s Tack and Feed, and coolers are just some of the loot that competitors can take home from a show at Copper. 

Copper Meadows runs shows in April, June and September, as well as many unrecognized one-day shows throughout the year.  Even the unrecognized shows feature prizes and ribbons, and like the recognized shows there is the opportunity to use a top-notch local facility.  Carolyn states that her goal for the property is to add more of these one day shows to her calendar, eventually running one a month.  In this way, she keeps Copper Meadows working for the community and for local riders.  Copper is used weekly by the Ramona Trails Pony Club, and frequented by Southern California trainers for schooling. 

 For more information please visit the website, www.copper-meadows.com.  If you would like to contact Carolyn about anything you have read here, including trainer phone numbers and email, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it