California Riding Magazine • July, 2010

Ranch Performance
Horseman-led company makes fences and structures that are built to last.

This corral was built into the hillside with a block wall. Located in Malibu.

Ritchie Copenhaver borrowed a modus operandi from his grandfather when he founded Ranch Performance in 2004. “He hated to build fence,” relays Copenhaver, whose company’s main product is fences. “He always said, ‘Let’s do this once and do it right so we don’t have to do it again.” With that idea at its core, Ranch Performance has been busy ever since. Pasture, paddock and pen fencing and everything from dressage to team roping and penning arenas are among Ranch Performance’s wide range of capabilities.

The majority of its business comes from repeat customers. Their satisfaction with Ranch Performance’s original fences and installations typically eliminates the desire to shop around when it’s time to add to or enhance their properties.

Based in Los Angeles County’s Val Verde, just north of the San Fernando Valley, Ranch Performance’s goal, as its name implies, is to build ranches that perform. “When we put our name on something, we expect it to mean something,” Copenhaver explains. “Our goal is to bring the durability of ranch type construction and the practices used in general contracting to horsekeeping. We want our products to perform for a long time.”

Copenhaver welcomes projects of all sizes. The company’s current assignments range from a three-day project at the Mill Creek Equestrian Center in Topanga Canyon to a likely three-month endeavor on a property that needs 4.7 miles of barbed wire fencing. Ranch Performance offers an equally wide array of materials to fit various budgets.

The new Dressage arena at Mill Creek Equestrian Center in Topanga.

Most of their steel pipe offerings are made in “the Shop,” Ranch Performance’s in-house fabrication facility. From a simple ranch gate to an ornate entryway, the components of any architectural design take shape here. Ranch Performance’s staff works with all types of steel and offers precision workmanship that regularly satisfies a clientele that includes the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Rocketdyne Systems and the Los Angeles Airport. Whatever they don’t make themselves, Ranch Performance can contract with vendors to supply. Mobile welding equipment enables Copenhaver and his crews to repair and construct fences on site.

The only thing Ranch Performance won’t make is something shabby and not built to last. “We don’t get every job we bid on,” Copenhaver notes. “Because there is always somebody that will sell you an 18 gauge panel that is really just recycled aluminum foil.” Ranch Performance’s products and work are not the cheapest in upfront costs, but their value accrues over time. Approximately 25 percent of the company’s work is repairs, typically replacing or retrofitting fences made of inexpensive materials that don’t hold up well to the rigors of ranch life.

Ranch Veteran

Raised on a ranch himself, Copenhaver understands the importance of making the most of a hard earned dollar, but he cautions customers to be careful about bargains when designing their properties. “Do your homework,” he says. The average horse owner, for example, might assume that all barbed wire is constructed the same. Copenhaver notes that zinc content and galvanization are among the elements that make a big difference in the strength and longevity of that fencing material.

Another common misconception is that all steel pipe is the same. Inexpensive forms of steel pipe are usually steel tubes that have thin walls and bend easily when a horse leans or steps on them. Steel pipe from Ranch Performance is recycled schedule 80 pipe with walls that are nearly a quarter-inch thick. As Copenhaver’s grandfather would say, these pipes are “hell for stout.”

A round pen in Malibu.

Copenhaver is always doing homework about the best fencing products. Ranch Performance is a big believer in Red Brand wire, Powder River and Powder Mountain gates and livestock structures and Dare electronic fencing. Per the client’s needs, the company can also source products from Preifert, Behlen, Tarter and Gardner Vinyl. Ranch Performance is now the Southern California home for Derby Fencing, which makes High Density Polyethlene (HDPE) Ranch Rail.
He is also open to trying new products and new ways of doing things. He has worked on many, many ranches and figures he’s built fence in eight of the 11 western states. The end result is hands-on experience with a broad range of fencing solutions. Some customers know exactly what they want and others ask Copenhaver and his staff to create designs for every fencing need. In either case, Copenhaver, a team roper who attended college on a rodeo scholarship, has horse sense to contribute. Knowing which way to hang a gate, for example, can prevent an accident and save horse owners headaches and vet bills.

Copenhaver brings a dry-erase board to initial on-site visits to sketch out preliminary plans. The next step is a shop drawing for the clients to mull over, followed by whatever amount of tweaking is necessary. Needs vary from simple containment and separation of horses and other animals to protecting client’s property from aggressive trespassers armed with wire and pipe cutters. “Basically, we are helping people make their ranch perform as they want it to,” concludes Copenhaver. “If we do that, we’ll be successful.”

For more information on Ranch Performance,
call 661-305-4347 or visit www.ranchperformance.com.