![]() The small, unassuming house surprised world leaders such as Queen Elizabeth and Mikhail Gorbachev, who had expected the grandeur of the ranch featured on the TV show "Dallas." One of the President's favorite meals was mac & cheese out of the box. No one but the Reagans slept here - the agents worked three shifts and stayed at hotels in Santa Barbara. And he says, 'For the good of the American people, I don't think I'm going to take these jumps anymore.'" "'You know, John, I've been thinking about what you said.'. But when the two men were back at the ranch three months later and came across a downed tree on their ride, Reagan suddenly spoke up. The President didn't reply at the time, clearly displeased with the suggestion. Occasionally, Barletta's anxiety about the President's safety would rise to the point where he'd gently try to dissuade Reagan from a particular activity, such as the time he suggested that Reagan stop jumping his horses "for the good of the American people." The security risks at the secluded ranch were far different from those in Washington, but there were plenty of challenges and Barletta's biggest concern was Reagan's daily horse ride: Was the area secure? Were there physical hazards? Were the horses in good condition and in good moods? The heron scare at the ranch happened before John Hinckley, Jr., tried to assassinate Reagan at the Washington Hilton. The Secret Service was constantly on the lookout for potential threats against the President. But that didn't stop Reagan from trying to spot the fakes - he got a kick out of banging on the rocks. You couldn't tell the difference," Barletta said. They carved mile markers into stones so they could find him quickly if needed - without defacing the natural beauty. One agent fell off his horse and broke his arm.īarletta and the President rode together for years, forming a bond he recounts lovingly and touchingly in his book, "Riding With Reagan." They rode in solitude over the 688 acres, the President often on El Alamein, his feisty gray Arabian-thoroughbred, and the Secret Service working to tailor protection as unobtrusively as possible to life on the ranch. He would mount up and he would go 'Ahh' and sigh like, 'This is home.'"īarletta was assigned to ride with Reagan because of his own prowess on horses after it quickly became clear that the agents who were with the President-elect couldn't keep up with him to protect him. "You throw a leg over a horse, and it's like the tension just flows right out of the tip of your boot. "You can ask anybody who rides a lot," said Barletta, leaning against a saddle in the tack room. The views that the President saw on horseback here are stunning - and a world away from the pace and pressures of Washington. The road twists up the Santa Ynez mountains to a modest, white adobe house 2,250 feet above sea level. Most of all, he loved to ride his horses. He chopped wood and cleared brush with his chain saw he used a pole saw to cut thick tree limbs high above him and he threw brush and wood into his wood chipper, an unforgiving machine known as the "chuck and duck" that was even more dangerous in those days than it is now. He loved life on the ranch - even if much of it caused anxiety for the Secret Service. But the campaign to choose the next president also offers an opportunity to look backwards - a chance to explore stories of past leaders and the places that defined them.įor Reagan, Rancho del Cielo was his remote and rugged retreat. The Simi Valley session will feature a high-octane exchange as candidates aim to prove they're best positioned to assume Reagan's legacy more than a quarter century after he left the White House. After that, the Secret Service held onto the President's guns for safekeeping.Īs the 2016 presidential campaign shifts into high gear, the Republican contenders will gather Wednesday at the Reagan Presidential Library for their second debate, hosted by CNN. "'I supposed I should have told you I was going to do that, huh?'īarletta nodded. Once fuller explanations had been given and peace finally restored, Reagan looked at Barletta. "I was trying to tell them that it's the President doing the shooting, everything's OK, but it didn't come out that way, and it just caused more excitement," Barletta recalled in a recent interview at the ranch. Over the next five weeks, we'll take a look at iconic presidential sites from Mount Vernon to LBJ's ranch. Presidential Places is a weekly series on past presidents and places they loved.
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