March 25, 2023 at 4:00 a.m.
Offering grooming
Rock Creek facility will open on April 3
Offering grooming
By Bailey Cline-
A pet grooming service is opening in Jay County.
It will also offer massages and therapy for horses.
Rock Creek Ranch Equine & Canine Services will be open for appointments starting April 3. It celebrates with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Thursday.
Owner Heather McAbee of rural Portland plans to offer dog grooming and breeding as well as a variety of equine massages and therapies. She and her husband, Darren, are also are certified to raise beef.
Rock Creek Ranch will offer the typical baths, tidy ups — trims on the “feet, face and fanny” with a bath and toenail clipping — or full grooms for dogs. (McAbee already has a few appointments booked for her first day.) Unique to the pet service business in rural Portland is its services for horses.
Heather McAbee’s daughter, 9-year-old Ivy Alt, is involved in 4-H and shows beef, dogs and horses. Participation in horse shows is what inspired her to get certified in equine massages and therapies.
“Your equine massage is really good for really anything,” she said. “My main focus … we are trying to be big horse showers. I wanted to just be able to maintain my own, because it does get expensive when needing massaged.”
“Horses are obviously such big creatures that muscles can get strained easily,” she continued. “You can start seeing a lot of compensation, so one side of the horse might start looking kind of out of whack … massage also promotes the circulation of the blood and oxygen which can help heal anything going on.”
Massages can bring abscesses to the surface, help sore muscles and promote homeostasis, she explained. She’s learned rehabilitation therapy and raindrop therapy, a technique that can act as a preventative medicine for horses. She’s also a Level 2 Reiki practitioner, a light-touch massage technique for animals that promotes healing within the body.
“My main focus with all of this is to be able to offer more of a holistic approach to therapies instead of modern medicine therapies,” McAbee explained. “I have just never been one to push medication. The body has again and again proved that it can heal itself. And I just think natural’s always best — obviously I do not dismiss modern medicine, because it is a miracle what we can do today. I just think that we should try something a little more natural before you move into invasive.”
She referenced shock therapy for horses, which she explained can be harmful if done incorrectly. Her light touch or deep tissue massages are hands-on techniques and don’t require machines.
McAbee has always loved animals. The New Weston, Ohio, native originally hoped to go into the veterinary field when she graduated from high school, but she ultimately decided to go into nursing. A licensed practical nurse, she received her license from Upper Valley Career Center in Piqua, Ohio. She started as a dialysis nurse at DaVita in Greenville, Ohio, and later at the Lima Memorial Hospital.
In 2019, she moved to Portland and transferred to the Fresenius Kidney Care clinic in Winchester.
She married Darren McAbee on Oct. 16, 2021, and they’ve been building their own farm on county road 650 South ever since. Darren McAbee, supervisor at Geneva Production weld shop, has been raising a small amount of beef for the last 10 years. The couple has recently expanded their barn to make room for more animals.
Rock Creek Ranch also raises Boston Terriers, which are registered through the American Kennel Club. McAbee noted that her business is a small kennel with four dogs and that she raises her animals indoors with family.
“We just really try to be involved and keep it family oriented. We are not a big breeder,” she said. “We don’t plan on having litter after litter. We really value quality of life versus quantity of life that we’re putting out there.”
Heather McAbee noted she wanted to start her own business from home so she could be readily available for her six children. The McAbees' services will be available starting April 3 at 328 W. 650 South by appointment only — Heather McAbee noted that may change depending on the public’s needs — at (260) 251-8496 or by visiting their Facebook page. She pointed out the business will offer discounts for 4-H members.
“We’re just trying to be a little homestead farm and make it with our six kids,” she said.
It will also offer massages and therapy for horses.
Rock Creek Ranch Equine & Canine Services will be open for appointments starting April 3. It celebrates with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Thursday.
Owner Heather McAbee of rural Portland plans to offer dog grooming and breeding as well as a variety of equine massages and therapies. She and her husband, Darren, are also are certified to raise beef.
Rock Creek Ranch will offer the typical baths, tidy ups — trims on the “feet, face and fanny” with a bath and toenail clipping — or full grooms for dogs. (McAbee already has a few appointments booked for her first day.) Unique to the pet service business in rural Portland is its services for horses.
Heather McAbee’s daughter, 9-year-old Ivy Alt, is involved in 4-H and shows beef, dogs and horses. Participation in horse shows is what inspired her to get certified in equine massages and therapies.
“Your equine massage is really good for really anything,” she said. “My main focus … we are trying to be big horse showers. I wanted to just be able to maintain my own, because it does get expensive when needing massaged.”
“Horses are obviously such big creatures that muscles can get strained easily,” she continued. “You can start seeing a lot of compensation, so one side of the horse might start looking kind of out of whack … massage also promotes the circulation of the blood and oxygen which can help heal anything going on.”
Massages can bring abscesses to the surface, help sore muscles and promote homeostasis, she explained. She’s learned rehabilitation therapy and raindrop therapy, a technique that can act as a preventative medicine for horses. She’s also a Level 2 Reiki practitioner, a light-touch massage technique for animals that promotes healing within the body.
“My main focus with all of this is to be able to offer more of a holistic approach to therapies instead of modern medicine therapies,” McAbee explained. “I have just never been one to push medication. The body has again and again proved that it can heal itself. And I just think natural’s always best — obviously I do not dismiss modern medicine, because it is a miracle what we can do today. I just think that we should try something a little more natural before you move into invasive.”
She referenced shock therapy for horses, which she explained can be harmful if done incorrectly. Her light touch or deep tissue massages are hands-on techniques and don’t require machines.
McAbee has always loved animals. The New Weston, Ohio, native originally hoped to go into the veterinary field when she graduated from high school, but she ultimately decided to go into nursing. A licensed practical nurse, she received her license from Upper Valley Career Center in Piqua, Ohio. She started as a dialysis nurse at DaVita in Greenville, Ohio, and later at the Lima Memorial Hospital.
In 2019, she moved to Portland and transferred to the Fresenius Kidney Care clinic in Winchester.
She married Darren McAbee on Oct. 16, 2021, and they’ve been building their own farm on county road 650 South ever since. Darren McAbee, supervisor at Geneva Production weld shop, has been raising a small amount of beef for the last 10 years. The couple has recently expanded their barn to make room for more animals.
Rock Creek Ranch also raises Boston Terriers, which are registered through the American Kennel Club. McAbee noted that her business is a small kennel with four dogs and that she raises her animals indoors with family.
“We just really try to be involved and keep it family oriented. We are not a big breeder,” she said. “We don’t plan on having litter after litter. We really value quality of life versus quantity of life that we’re putting out there.”
Heather McAbee noted she wanted to start her own business from home so she could be readily available for her six children. The McAbees' services will be available starting April 3 at 328 W. 650 South by appointment only — Heather McAbee noted that may change depending on the public’s needs — at (260) 251-8496 or by visiting their Facebook page. She pointed out the business will offer discounts for 4-H members.
“We’re just trying to be a little homestead farm and make it with our six kids,” she said.
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