Ellie Phipps Price and Chris Towt

FOUNDERS

Ellie and Chris bought Montgomery Creek Ranch (MCR) in Northern California in 2012 after rescuing a herd of 173 wild mustangs from Nevada. They have been developing MCR into a facility to train their young prospect horses to be adopted out, and respectfully give back freedom to the rest of the herd.

Ellie and Chris met while horseback riding in Colorado. They share a love for wildlife, wine and horses. Ellie's first mustang Dunstan is named for their winery in Sonoma, CA.

Ellie is on the board of the American Wild Horse Campaign, the nation’s largest wild horse and burro advocacy organization.

Santino ('Tino') Lombardo

RANCH MANAGER

Santino was born and raised in rural Northwest Pennsylvania where at a young age he worked for a cattle ranch and dog training facility. There he developed his passion and deep respect for the land, livestock, and wildlife. Immediately following high school, he joined the US Army where he served as a Military Police Officer during Operation Desert Storm. He spent much of his service in the Republic of Panama. Upon relocating to California, Santino managed both large and small horse and cattle ranches and gained the practical and technical knowledge that he uses to improve and maintain the safety and health of the MCR horses.

Nancy O'Neill Lombardo

DIRECTOR OF HORSE TRAINING

Nancy is the Director of Horse Training and is responsible for the medical care of the Montgomery Creek Ranch horses.

She got her first horse at age 8 and has owned horses and ridden for others since then, including working at a guest ranch for fifteen years, exercising high goal polo ponies, and working as an assistant trainer and barn manager for a performance horse trainer before coming to Montgomery Creek Ranch.

Nancy gained invaluable animal health care experience working as a veterinary assistant for seven years and caring for herds of up to ninety horses at her places of employment. She is an avid naturalist—spending as much time as possible exploring and learning the rhythms of Montgomery Creek Ranch, its herds of horses and the surrounding wildlife.

Justine Smith

HORSE TRAINER

Justine was born and raised in Elk Creek, CA. As a child, she spent every summer at her grandparent's cow camp and worked for local horse ranches during her teenage years. Justine is certified in wildlife rehab and has worked with the Department of Fish & Game rehabbing hundreds of animals. Her love of horses has brought her to MCR, where as part of our team she puts trail miles on the riding horses and helps halter break the youngsters.

Sydney Hettrich

HORSE TRAINER

Sydney is a colt starter responsible for working with the adoptable mustangs through their various stages of gentling and training within the MCR program. At eight years old, she got her first Quarter Horse and started practicing natural horsemanship on a nearby ranch in Mayakka City, Florida. She learned and worked there throughout high school to develop her horsemanship on the principals of lightness, feel, and connection.

During college, Sydney used her summers to work with horses in a variety of settings and disciplines; from starting jumpers over fences in Dublin, to guiding trails outside of Yellowstone. It’s during a summer of her undergraduate career that she got her start gentling wild mustangs and knew that she had found her calling. After finishing her Master’s degree in anthropology, Sydney moved out to accept a full time position at Montgomery Creek Ranch.

Erik Long

FACILITIES MANAGER

Erik attended 4 years at a trade school where he learned all aspects of plumbing and welding. After completing school he spent 7 years as a general foreman for an HVAC company, and then he went to work for West Valley Construction where he managed special projects for the city of San Jose and CAL Water for the past 25 years. While working in the Bay Area he lived on and helped maintain a cattle ranch for 27 years. He loves the outdoors and ranching, which brought him to Elk Creek after his retirement.

Erik is a volunteer member of the local Fire Department, he specializes in welding, fabricating, repairing and maintenance on equipment, and is a general handyman who can build or fix almost anything, which makes him an asset to the MCR team.

Seth Kirby

SENIOR RANCH HAND

Seth is originally from Yuba City, is now happily settled in Stonyford where he and his wife Chandra are enjoying raising their children in a small town. Seth came to MCR with some experience in construction and landscape maintenance, which makes him an invaluable member of the MCR team. While primarily responsible for the care of the horses, Seth can be found wherever the action is at MCR. As one of our original team members, Seth now knows the names of many of the 200 wild horses in the main herd, and knows the quirks and antics of the young horses in training as well as anyone. For fun Seth enjoys riding dirt bikes more than horses.

Tara (Arrowood) Pynn

PHOTOGRAPHER

Tara joined the MCR team in 2012 and has been a key source of the fantastic photography of our wild herds. Tara is a professional photographer— specializing in fine art equine photography, wedding, and lifestyle photography. You can view her work at Arrowood Photography and on her blog. She frequently visits MCR and beautifully documents the ranch and the horses.