Inspiring Conversations with Carley Cope of Broken Arrow Diamond P Ranch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carley Cope.

Hi Carley, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We are Carley Cope and Adrian Perez. Even from the start, when we had first met, our dream was to found our ranch – here we are, our dreams becoming a reality. Here’s a little bit about us! Both of us grew up as elite athletes, instilling strong work ethics and a strong sense of integrity from a young age; this carried us to both play college athletics – ironically, in the same athletic conference.

Adrian studied engineering as he played football at the South Dakota School of Mines and, upon graduation, took over and grew his father’s painting company into a very well-known company, JR’s Painting LLC. Adrian has a passion for animals, growing up with horses and dogs. Luckily, Adrian can fix almost anything, helping keep our ranch in excellent shape. Carley studied psychology and went on to pursue a master’s in counseling. She was also passionate about horses throughout her childhood and worked as a wrangler at a local horse rescue and outfitter near the end of her college career. She also worked as an Equine Psychotherapist and is certified in EAGALA (the practice of horse and animal behavior). Carley also used to volunteer her time training problem horses and providing lessons to people who wanted to work better with their horse companions. Like Adrian, she also loves dogs – they have 4 dogs at the ranch!

About a month ago, we got the news that the current boarding facility we had our horse was shutting down in less than a month. We had no clue what we would do, as we had recently moved into the middle of the city, and there were no boarding facilities nearby. One day, Adrian brought up the idea of just bringing our horse to our property, and within days, we were full-fledged into building not just a space for our horse but an entire boarding facility in the center of Central Phoenix. We are a niche ranch for folks in the same predicament we did – living in a city with nowhere within 35 minutes to keep their equine family members. One could call us Urban Cowboys!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been far from a smooth road for us. The time crunch was a huge hit to our construction process. We had less than 2 and a half weeks to turn an overgrown, shrub-ridden property into a brand-new performance-level ranch and boarding center. For most, it sounds like not a problem, but much more goes into it than meets the eye. We needed to rip out all of the old shrubs and remove 2 feet of dirt to get a clean slate; we had to find and install horse panels, shades, feeders, and waterers, find a livestock vet that serviced our area, as well as a hay distributor, and finally to find a way to market our unique services in a very unlikely area. To top things off, we had to pick up our horse 5 days earlier than anticipated and added an additional horse to the picture on top of everything else!

We’ve been impressed with Broken Arrow Diamond P Ranch, but for folks who might need to be more familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are an urban performance horse ranch and horse boarding facility. We are a niche boarding facility that allows residents of central Phoenix to have their equine-family members less than 20 minutes away (definitely a luxury), most boarding centers being 35-45 minutes away from the city. The Co-Owner, Carley, will eventually provide riding lessons to all ages, horse training, and colt starting. Carley is also a Licensed Counselor and certified equine-assisted psychotherapist, the longest-term goal being to extend an equine counseling practice to the ranch.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share?
Luckily, our ranch life was not impacted mainly by COVID-19. The biggest difference we have noticed that has not yet gone “back to normal,” per se, is the price of grain and hay. Hay prices were around $14 a bale of hay before the crisis, and now we are up to $22 per bale of hay. In context, one horse goes through about 10 bales of hay a month. It has impacted us and our ranch, the entire western community across Arizona, and the rest of our country.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094578714046
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenarrowdiamondp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094578714046