Koco Ranch - Equine Facility

07/27/2026

Act fast! Only one opening left at Koco Ranch in Valders, WI! Available as soon as Aug 1, 2026.

Koco Ranch is a relaxing and peaceful, drama-free 30-acre equine boarding facility all under one roof.

There are 26 stalls and eight spacious paddocks with south-facing, three-sided shelters, automatic frost-free waterers and newly built 3-rail fencing with hot wire.

Facility amenities include:

🐴 60'x120' indoor arena with ridge and wall lights, mirrors, windows, bleachers and viewing room
🐴 50'x50' indoor arena with ridge and wall lights and viewing deck
🐴 indoor washstall with hot and cold water year-round and fully-stocked medicine and grooming cabinet
🐴 outside wash stall and wash rack (seasonal)
🐴 tack room with individual lockers and saddle rack
🐴 large heated lounge with bathroom, blanket-drying area, entertainment center, kitchenette and communication center
🐴 large dry hay mows and feed room
🐴 convenient bulk shavings storage
🐴 outdoor 30' round pen with access to a trailer for loading/unloading training/practice
🐴 80'x200' outdoor grass arena
🐴 outdoor trail and obstacle course
🐴 groomed bridle path around the entire property
🐴 parking for horse trailers
🐴 whole-farm back-up generator

Horses are turned out (weather cooperating), and waterers and stalls are cleaned daily. Bran mash served weekly. Regular vet, farrier, and de-worming services scheduled.

On-site 24-hour experienced management with late-night barn checks. Lessons and training are available as needed and by request. A full year's worth of horse-quality alfalfa x timothy grass hay is stocked. Ration balancer Purina Enrich Plus Senior, Purina Senior, and Omega Flaxseed are stocked.

Although both full-service and cooperative boarding* options are offered at Koco Ranch, we are currently only accepting individuals who can participate in our cooperative boarding program.

To set up an appointment to tour the facility, meet the owner, get boarding rates, and fill out a cooperative boarding application, please send a PM.

*Cooperative boarding involves committing to doing one PM chore period, and one small job, every week.

07/15/2026

UPDATE: only one stall left!

What was bad news for us 😢, might be good news for you 🥳!

For a number of different reasons, the 5 horse owners on our boarding waiting list have already moved their horses to other boarding facilities and now, for the first time in a very long time, we have two stalls available on August 1, 2026 for cooperative boarding only.

If you're looking to board your horse at a clean, safe, and well-established equine facility and have the ability to commit to doing one PM chore period, and one small job, every week, please either text 920-905-3855, email [email protected] or send a message.

For a refresher on what Koco Ranch offers, please check out our FB post https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1NR7sAisJ2/

07/03/2026

I want to send a big shout out to Tim Pingel of Pingel Farms for making and delivering the first of many more loads of beautiful, quality horse hay.

04/04/2026

Please enjoy time with your family and friends during this Easter Weekend. Christ has risen.

03/12/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18N1XC4HiL/

03/09/2026

Please have patience with your new horse.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BAgwPEAfR/

When a horse moves to a new home, people often ask, “How long does it take for them to settle in?”

The honest answer is that there is no single timeline. It depends on the individual horse, their past experiences, their temperament, their health, the environment they have arrived in, and the herd and humans around them.

But one thing is certain.
It is a significant transition for them.

In most cases, the process actually begins before they even arrive. Transport itself is demanding for a horse. Hours of balancing in a moving vehicle, unfamiliar noises, confinement, changes in temperature, and often limited access to water or forage all place strain on the body and nervous system. By the time a horse steps off the trailer, they may already be physically tired and mentally alert.

And then they arrive somewhere completely new.

The landscape is unfamiliar. The smells are different. The sounds are new. They do not yet know where the water is, where the safe resting places are, or where the boundaries of the land lie.

For horses, this is not simply about becoming comfortable. Their nervous system is constantly assessing safety and threat. Every sound, movement, smell, and interaction is information. They are mapping the land, noticing resources, observing the behaviour of other horses, and working out how this new environment functions.

At the same time, they are navigating the social world they have just entered.

For a horse joining an established herd, this can be one of the most challenging parts of the transition. Herds have existing relationships and patterns of interaction. When a newcomer arrives, those patterns shift as horses begin negotiating their relationships with one another and working out how to share space, resources, and proximity.

This can involve tension, posturing, chasing, and sometimes aggression, which is why introductions often need to be managed carefully and gradually. It protects the newcomer, but it also protects the existing herd members whose own sense of stability is being disrupted by the arrival of someone new.

While all of this is happening socially and emotionally, the body is also adjusting physically.

A new home often means different forage, different pasture composition, different hay, and sometimes different water. Those changes alone can influence the digestive system. Stress can also reduce appetite and slow gut motility, which is why the first days and weeks after a move are a time when owners need to observe their horses closely.

Simple things tell you a great deal.

Are they eating normally?
Are they drinking well?
Are they passing manure regularly?
Are gut sounds normal?

These small observations can give early clues about how well a horse is coping with the transition.

Many people use the rough guideline of three days to decompress, three weeks to begin understanding the routine, and three months to truly feel at home. It is a helpful framework, but it is not a rule. Some horses settle quickly. Others need more time to fully relax into a new place.

What helps the most during this period is patience.

On arrival, horses often benefit from simply being allowed to observe. Time to stand quietly, look around, take in the environment, and see other horses without immediately being asked to do anything. Hay, water, and calm surroundings go a long way toward helping the nervous system begin to settle.

What many horses do not need at that moment is pressure.

Starting training immediately, over-handling them, forcing social contact, or assuming that a quiet horse has already settled can create more stress rather than less. Stillness does not always mean relaxation. Sometimes it simply means the horse is overwhelmed and trying to process everything at once.

Settling into a new home is not just about the horse physically being in a new place. Their entire system is reorganising itself. They are learning the land, the herd, the routines, and the humans who will now be part of their world.

Understanding that process, and meeting it with patience and compassion, is one of the most important things we can offer a horse when they arrive somewhere new.

03/08/2026

And this doesn't include grain; the electricity for anything boarders or boarders' services (farrier, mangawave, groomers, veterinary, etc) plug in, fans, deicers, or lights they turn on; sanding, salting or driveway and parking lot maintenance; toiletries if there's a bathroom available; heat/AC if there is a lounge available; anything above and beyond normal wear and tear on the facility and property; the list goes on.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Jd5ytyg4t/

01/22/2026

When temps are supposed to be as low as -18° with windchills of -40° and a boarder sends you a message like this, it makes your day so much more brighter.....and warmer! Thank you JB ❤️

01/08/2026

Beautiful sunrise this morning.