Rancho del Cielo

RANCHO DEL CIELO

Rancho del Cielo was the Reagan’s small (688 acres) ranch near Santa Barbara.  It was used frequently during the Reagan administration as a vacation home.  The ranch is very informal and has no central heating. The ranch was run by a very small staff keeping it in working order for President Reagan and his visits.

The President enjoyed working outdoors at the ranch whenever he visited.  A few cows, some dogs and horses roamed freely there.  The property also has a small lake where President and Mrs. Reagan canoed.

There were seven horses at the ranch during the Reagan presidency:

Quarter Horses:     NO STRINGS and DORMITA

Arabains:               GWALIANKO, CATALINA, EL SARAFF (ALFIE), AND ALAMEIN

Peruvian Pasos:     EL PRIMERO TENIENTE (FIRST LIEUTENANT)

EL ALAMEIN was given to President Reagan prior to his inauguration by former Mexican President Lopez Portillo.  Alamein was trained for dressage, a style of riding in which the rider signals the horse into complex maneuvers while barely moving his legs, hands and weight.

The Reagans also had four dogs at the ranch –

VICTORY                 Golden Retriever

MILLIE                    Irish Setter/Labrador mix

TACA                     Husky

LUCKY                    Bouvier des Flandres   (Originally kept at the White House until 1985)

The President’s daughter, Patti Davis, also kept her dog, FREE BO, at Rancho del Cielo.

The animals from the ranch and most of the Reagan family pets are buried at Rancho del Cielo.

The ranch was sold in 1998 to the organization Young America’s Foundation. In 2002, it was dedicated as a California State Landmark by the Native Sons of the Golden West.

                Rev. Feb 2013