Our Founders
Susan and Terry Thayer are the founders and ranch directors of Dreamhaven Ranch. After successful careers in business, they retired to fulfill a dream they shared for the last 20 years.
Terry and Susan love to be able to share the peace of just being in the country and see the significant improvement and healing that takes place when you put an animal together with a child or elderly person. “That is how we want to spend the rest of our days.”
Susan Thayer
When I was eight years old, we moved to the country where our family had horses and raised beef cattle. Ranch life was just a fit for me and I loved every aspect of it – putting up hay, canning, the garden – the whole deal.
The horses were my favorite part of my growing up years. My horse Frisky was my best friend who did not care what I looked like or if I was cool; she was always glad to see me. The love of my horse was a lifesaver during some very tough years in middle school, when I was teased and not accepted by the in-crowd. Frisky was there for me after school, listening to my woes while I cried in her mane.
I felt I always had a friend in her, so I have a deep appreciation and love for horses. To me, they are truly angels in horsehair! Because of my personal healing experience with horses, I have always wanted to share their love and magnificence with others.
Terry Thayer
Because I grew up with a first cousin who had disabilities, I felt a strong compassion for those who have disabilities and their families. In school I made it my responsibility to protect the kids that were weak, crippled or defenseless. I also love the elderly – it always makes me feel good when I see their smiles when they see me coming with our dogs at the assisted living home where my mom resides.
When we purchased the property that is now Dreamhaven Ranch it was always our goal to share the property and the rural lifestyle experience with families. We feel that families are in great need of a taste of what our country was founded upon which is a giving, sharing and very loving community.