SENIOR BEAUTIFIES DAUGHTER'S RANCH.

Byline: BETTIE RENCORET / Senior Columnist

The east-side Sweetwater Horse Ranch has the unique distinction of being a veritable art gallery and senior Pat Hopper is the talented artist who has made it so.

Owner and operator of the ranch is Monica Sellars, Hopper's youngest daughter, who has welcomed her mother's assistance in beautifying the place.

While Sellars gives riding lessons, Hopper provides art lessons. They find that the two vocations are not only compatible but are appreciated.

Since 1994, when she came here to live with and help out Sellars, Hopper has taught many art classes at the ranch.

She has also mucked out a lot of horse stalls and has a healthy respect for their tenants.

``I don't ride, and I don't really trust them all that much. I try to do the mucking when they're eating,'' she laughed. ``That way their attention is on the hay instead of me. I don't want to get kicked.''

She has been doubly wary since the day one of the equines got her with a backward boot when she least expected it.

``You should have kicked him back,'' said Sellars to her petite mother.

Hopper has to admit that she is quite taken with one of the several horses kept at the ranch - a large, and very old, Palomino. She has used him as a model.

``Apollo is special,'' she said. ``He is 34 years old, is on a special medication which costs a mint, and eats carrots gingerly since he has no molars. Would you believe he has his own dentist? He's on a gerontology diet, too, but the old dear has earned his right to be pampered.''

Mother and daughter get along well. While Sellars is busy with the business of the ranch, giving riding instructions, breeding American Eskimo dogs and putting on special events, Hopper has free rein to beautify the buildings.

``When I first got here the house needed painting, so we got the paint and I just rolled it on,'' said the perky senior citizen. ``I really should have given it a second coat, but I was worn out by the time I got the first one done.''

She thought the garage doors looked ordinary, so she decided to give them some character with murals.

``They had to be painted anyway, so I just decided to be creative.''

She started out with clouds and a rainbow and continued over to the adjoining wall to place a unicorn by a flowing stream. Around the corner, she did one whole wall in an English hunt scene where she hid the tiny fox in a boxed recess.

Both women love children and believe that when they are actively involved with horses and art they don't have the time or the inclination to get into trouble.

As a mother-daughter team, they try to instill in their charges a work and study ethic that evokes a positive attitude and a sense of achievement.

``We feed their desire to constantly do better by giving them enough perks to make their strivings worthwhile,'' said Hopper.

Many of the children evident around the ranch are there to work.

``Sometimes the parents don't want to, or can't afford to, pay for their lessons so if the students really have the desire to learn, we let them come out and do jobs around here to earn points toward their training,'' Hopper said.

She pointed to a crew getting ready to go out to the riding arena.

``Those kids are going to paint the jumps today,'' she said. ``We always have something they can do.''

Sellars puts on horse shows, holds horse camps, barbecues and trail rides.

She has also assisted a local Girl Scout troop. They came to Sweetwater, where she helped them earn their horse lover's badges. She taught them all about horses - how much it costs to feed them, how to care for them and how to ride them.

As Hopper's murals suggest, they also have fun with whatever they do and like to insert a little humor into the operations.

On Dec. 7, the women will hold a special event. Advertising fliers bill it as: ``The very unrecognized Sweetwater Ranch Horse Trials schooling clinic.''

There will be two divisions competing for the prizes. They are labeled No Guts No Glory and Green as Grass. One of the guidelines notes that ``even slightly dirty, fuzzy horses are OK.''

For more information, call Sue Guzenske, [phone].

Sellars also breeds dogs, the American Eskimo, a medium-sized, snowy white, long-haired canine with a sweeping brush of a tale. In addition, she conducts obedience classes.

Hopper, who is the current recording secretary of the Antelope Valley Allied Arts Association paints in almost all media except oils. She is negotiating a new mural assignment for a local church group.

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea and milk.

Monday: Turkey divan, mashed potatoes, parslied carrots, tossed salad and pineapple chunks.

Tuesday: Lemon herb fish, rice pilaf, stewed tomatoes, three bean salad and Apple Brown Betty.

Wednesday: Hamburger patty, macaroni salad, peas and carrots, lettuce/tomato/onion and fruit.

Thursday: Juice, pinto beans and ham, cornbread, Harvard beets, lettuce and tomato salad, and pudding.

Friday: Baked chicken, au gratin potatoes, winter squash, fiesta coleslaw and apple.

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Photo

PHOTO Artist Pat Hopper shows a portrait to her favorite equine model, Apollo, a 34-year-old Palomino at the Sweetwater Horse Ranch.

Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News