Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela May.
Hi Angela, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Stoney Oaks Ranch really started from a love of horses, kids, and the community I grew up in.
I’m a fourth-generation Alpine resident, and this community has always been a huge part of who I am. I’ve also always believed that some of the most important lessons kids learn don’t necessarily happen in a classroom. They happen when they are challenged, when they have to work through frustration, when they learn to take responsibility for something other than themselves, and when someone believes they are capable of more than they think they are.
Horses have an incredible way of teaching all of those things.
In 2018, I started Stoney Oaks Ranch here in Alpine. What began as a relatively simple idea centered around horses and riding quickly grew into something much bigger. I started seeing what happened when kids were given the opportunity to spend meaningful time at the ranch, not just riding horses, but caring for them, working alongside other kids, getting dirty, solving problems, making mistakes and trying again.
I watched shy kids find their voices. I watched kids who were afraid climb onto a horse and discover that they were braver than they thought. I watched friendships form between children who might never have met otherwise. And I watched young riders begin to understand that becoming a good horseman or horsewoman isn’t just about how well you ride. It requires patience, discipline, empathy, consistency and responsibility.
That became the heart of Stoney Oaks Ranch.
Over the years, we have grown from riding lessons into summer horse camps, homeschool programs, leadership programs, clinics and more advanced horsemanship opportunities. We’ve had hundreds of children come through our programs, and some of the kids who started with us when they were young have grown into leaders and mentors for the younger children coming behind them.
That is probably one of the things I’m most proud of.
My goal has never been simply to create great riders. Of course, I want our students to become knowledgeable and confident horsemen and horsewomen, but I care just as much about who they become outside the arena.
At Stoney Oaks Ranch, the horse is often the teacher.
A horse doesn’t care about your popularity, your grades, what kind of clothes you’re wearing or how many followers you have. Horses respond to patience, confidence, consistency, kindness and leadership. Kids learn very quickly that they can’t fake those qualities with a 1,000 pound animal.
And those lessons follow them home.
Building Stoney Oaks Ranch hasn’t always been easy. Like any small business, there have been challenges, setbacks and plenty of moments when I’ve had to figure things out as I went. But those challenges have also helped shape what the ranch is today.
What keeps me going are the kids and families.
When a parent tells me their child is more confident because of something they accomplished here, when a student finally masters something they’ve struggled with for months, or when one of our older students turns around and encourages a younger rider through the exact same challenge they once faced. that’s when I know we’re doing something meaningful.
Stoney Oaks Ranch started with horses, but somewhere along the way I realized we were building something much bigger.
We’re building capable kids, strong young leaders, friendships, community and memories that I hope they carry with them for the rest of their lives.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have definitely been obstacles along the way, but some of the earliest, and most important, challenges actually came before the neighbor complaints, County issues, and outside pressures we have faced in more recent years.
In the beginning, one of my biggest struggles was figuring out exactly what was going to make Stoney Oaks Ranch special.
Like many new business owners, I thought growth meant saying yes. I said yes to almost anyone who wanted riding lessons. I said yes to people who wanted to board their horses with us. I tried to accommodate different personalities, different expectations and different ideas about what the ranch should be.
What I eventually learned is that when you try to be everything to everybody, you usually aren’t particularly good at any of it.
I had to become comfortable saying no.
Over time, I became much more intentional about who we brought into our programs, who we hired and even the families we chose to serve. I realized that skills can be taught, but shared values are much harder to create. We began choosing instructors and team members whose morals, work ethic and ideas about working with children aligned with what we were trying to build.
That decision changed Stoney Oaks Ranch.
It helped us create a culture where families stay with us for years, kids grow up in the program, and older students become examples for younger ones. There is a sense of community here that I don’t think could have happened if our only goal had been to get as many customers through the gate as possible.
As the ranch became more successful, the challenges changed. We have dealt with repeated neighbor complaints, opposition to our programs and a lengthy process with the County of San Diego regarding what we are permitted to do on our own property. There have certainly been moments when those challenges have been frustrating and have threatened the future of programs we worked incredibly hard to build.
But even those experiences reinforced the same lesson: know who you are and don’t compromise the things that made you successful in the first place.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned as a business owner is that culture doesn’t maintain itself. You have to protect it.
Sometimes that means turning down business. Sometimes it means having difficult conversations. Sometimes it means making decisions that aren’t popular. And sometimes it means standing up for what you’ve built when outside forces challenge it.
Keeping your standards high isn’t always easy, but I’ve learned that it is mandatory.
Today, I would rather have the right clients, the right instructors and the right environment than simply have more of everything. I think that philosophy is a huge reason we have longtime families who continue to trust us with their children and why Stoney Oaks Ranch has developed into the community it is today.
The obstacles have taught me that success isn’t just about growing a business. It’s about knowing what you stand for, having the courage to protect it, and being willing to say no to things that don’t align with the culture you’re trying to create.
These lessons have carried forward in my campaign for Alpine Union school board. I hope to continue to lead my community and build our children’s future by winning the election on November 3.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
If there is one thing Stoney Oaks Ranch has really become known for, it is our Summer Horse Camp program.
In 2019, I held my very first summer horse camp with just six children. Today, we welcome more than 325 kids through our camp program in just six weeks. Watching it grow from six campers into what it is today has been one of the things I am most proud of.
What people may not realize is that Summer Horse Camp is really a year-round job for me. As soon as one summer ends, I start thinking about the next one. I spend the entire year planning, evaluating, reshaping and reorganizing the program. Every year I ask: What worked? What can we do better? What will make the experience safer, more meaningful and more memorable for the kids?
One of my favorite parts of camp is that we bring our own Stoney Oaks lesson students into the program as mentors and workers. Many of those kids started out as campers themselves. They came to Stoney Oaks because they wanted to ride a horse for a week, fell in love with it, joined our lesson program, and years later they are the ones helping a nervous four or five year old climb onto a horse for the first time.
That full-circle experience is incredibly special to me.
In fact, many of the children who have been part of Stoney Oaks Ranch for five, six and even seven years originally came to us through Summer Horse Camp. Camp is often their first introduction to horses and to our culture.
And that’s really what I want it to be.
Summer Horse Camp isn’t designed just to teach children how to ride a horse. It exposes them to everything that is special about being around horses, the responsibility of caring for an animal, working hard, getting dirty, overcoming fear, making friends, helping someone younger than you, laughing a lot and discovering what you’re capable of.
For some kids, it’s simply an unforgettable week of summer. For others, it becomes the beginning of a passion that stays with them for years.
I’m especially proud that we’ve been able to create a healthy environment where kids can just be kids. They’re outside, they’re active, they’re working together, they’re surrounded by animals and positive mentors, and they’re learning without necessarily realizing they’re learning.
When I look at more than 325 campers coming through the program today, I still think about those first six kids in 2019.
The numbers have certainly changed, but the purpose hasn’t. We want to give children an opportunity to experience the joy of horses, discover something about themselves, and be part of a positive community they may want to come back to year after year.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned on this journey is the importance of being deeply rooted in your purpose and in God.
When you build something that becomes visible in the community, not everyone is going to understand it, support it or even speak kindly about you. In the beginning, it can be very easy to let those voices distract you. You can find yourself making decisions based on criticism, trying to prove yourself to people, or changing direction simply to make others happy.
I’ve learned that when you know who you are, what you stand for, and where God is leading you, the outside noise becomes much quieter.
Being rooted in my faith and my purpose has helped me make better decisions, especially during difficult seasons. Instead of asking, “What will make everyone happy?” I’ve learned to ask, “Does this align with our purpose? Does this reflect our values? Is this the direction I believe God is calling me to go?”
That doesn’t mean I don’t listen to constructive criticism or that I always get everything right. I absolutely make mistakes, and I’m always learning. But there is a big difference between being willing to learn and allowing other people’s opinions to determine your direction.
I’ve learned that you cannot build something meaningful while constantly looking over your shoulder at the people criticizing you.
Faith gives me a foundation. Purpose gives me direction. Together, they have given me the confidence to keep moving forward even when the road has been difficult.
When you know who you are and you know where you’re going, you don’t have to spend nearly as much energy defending yourself. You can put that energy into doing the work you were called to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.stoneyoaksranch.com
- Instagram: @stoneyoaksranchalpine
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