Shifting Focus to Kama‘āina

By Léo Azambuja

From left to right, Marti Snyder, Beverley Aguilar-Kinnaman and Savannah Miranda at the petting zoo at CJM Country Stables. Photo by Léo Azambuja

As local and state officials ease restrictions against COVID-19, non-essential businesses are slowly being allowed to reopen. Businesses that were heavily dependent on the visitor industry, however, will have to navigate an economy that is basically void of tourist dollars at the moment.

There may be a silver lining in all this, as the late physicist Albert Einstein once said, “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”

“We’re going to need to reinvent ourselves,” said Joyce Miranda, owner of CJM Country Stables in Kōloa.

This reinvention at CJM includes shifting their focus to local residents rather than the visitor industry. The ranch is offering horseback riding tours designed specifically for kama‘āina. But the most exciting change is arguably a petting zoo for young children, complete with pony rides, horse-feeding and, of course, petting and feeding cute little animals, such as piglets, guinea pigs, fluffy rabbits and even a family of dwarf Nigerian goats.

CJM, short for Come Join Me, makes much of its revenue from offering guided horseback tours in their 25-acre oceanfront ranch in the South Shore. The views on the property are stunning, even for local residents used to the beauty of the island.

Savannah Miranda, left, is seen here helping Beverley Aguilar-Kinnaman ride Blueberry. Photo by Léo Azambuja

“There are not a lot of places that have the panoramic view we have here,” Joyce said. From the ranch’s entrance, the sloping hills reveal the turquoise blue ocean and white sandy beaches trailing the coastline from Maha‘ulepu to Kipu. The volcanic mountain ridge in the background extends all the way to jagged skyscraping cliffs by the ocean.

The bulk of CJM’s customers are visitors. Joyce said business is usually slow in the first couple months of the year, picking up during spring break, and again during summer. They were anticipating lots of timeshare owners, honeymooners, cruise ship passengers and college students for the hotter months of 2020.

“All that came to a very abrupt halt,” said Joyce, adding they stopped offering tours on March 18. “As it is right now, we’re just trying to survive.”

Being a ranch, she said, shutting down tours was just one concern. The ranch has more than 60 horses that need to be fed on a daily basis.

“Just because they don’t take a tour, it doesn’t mean they don’t eat,” she said of the horses. “They still have to eat. So, we needed to be creative in how we are going to survive this period of time until things get back to normal.”

Joyce said the concept for the petting zoo came from her daughter, Martie Snyder, the “creative mind” bringing ideas for the ranch to go into new directions and to bring revenues to supplement their income during these trying times and beyond.

Martie said even before COVID-19 happened, she wanted to attract more local residents into the ranch’s activities. She was thinking of offering the ranch’s property as a venue for local weddings, engagements, parties and special events. But she was also thinking about young children. Before the petting zoo, only children ages eight and up were allowed in the tours. Besides going to the beach, she said, there are no activities for young children on the South Shore.

Guinea pigs and bunnies are some of the animals at the new petting zoo at CJM Country Stables. Photos by Léo Azambuja

“There’s only so much beach a little kid can get, and so much sun,” Martie said. “You kind of want to do different things. I think it would be good to incorporate the local kids too, to get them more acquainted with animals in a safe, cool way.”

The petting zoo could also become a destination for school excursions and an opportunity for education, she said.

Petting zoo visits are set up as one-hour packages, according to Martie. Children have a limited attention span, going from one thing to another in a matter of minutes. So, the package is arranged in a way to keep them moving and entertained.

The visit starts with a 20-minute wagon ride through the property. The kids then meet the horses, separated by a fence, and are encouraged to feed them treats. From there, they go to the much-awaited petting zoo, where they have a choice of feeding and petting the animals through the fence or going inside the enclosure. The piglets, bunnies and guinea pigs are cute, but the mama dwarf Nigerian goat and her two kids are just adorable. The remainder of the package is just as exciting, with the kids going on a pony ride — an assisted ride on the back of a small horse.

The kids are also able to get safely close to the horses while the horses are getting saddled. The kids can even brush the horses and feed them treats. Martie said she wanted to have an activity where local kids can learn about horses and ranching.

The view from CJM Country Stables. Photo by Léo Azambuja

Besides the petting zoo, CJM is also offering a special scenic beach ride tour catered for local people, according to Martie. She said some locals are saying that since there are no tourists around, they see an opportunity to enjoy some activities that were created for the visitor industry.

In the future, when the pandemic is over, Martie said there’s a possibility CJM may offer a locals’ day or weekend once a month, giving local residents a break in the price to encourage them to get the experience.

For those who can’t or don’t want to ride a horse, CJM offers wagon rides, Joyce said. The wagon goes around the ranch, and is suitable for grandmas and grandpas, young children or those who simply don’t want to go on horseback riding tour. Besides horses, CJM also has more than 100 head of cattle.

The parties for all these activities can’t exceed 10 people, under the current government guidelines to prevent spread of COVID-19. But Martie said the tours were always intimate, with a maximum of eight clients at a time.

CJM first opened in 1985, with only 12 horses. Many locals recognize them for the rodeo they organize during the Kōloa Plantation Days every summer, going back many years. CJM puts a lot of effort into its multi-day event, showcasing local and off-island cowboys. Locals come in large numbers to see the bull rides, roping competition and other rodeo attractions. There are food trucks and live entertainment too. All local style.

Since the Kōloa Plantation Days Rodeo is not happening this year, Joyce said as things open up more, she wants to organize a music festival at the ranch later this year, with local entertainers and food booths. But she doesn’t want to put a date on it because the future is still uncertain.

Find CJM Country Stables in Po‘ipū, about 1.8 miles past the Grand Hyatt Resort. Visit www.cjmstables.com or call 742-6096 for more information or booking.