BROKEN ARROW RANCH

In 2016, Mark and Angela Crandall purchased the ranch as a place where they could reconnect with nature and find solace in the land’s quiet embrace.

They envisioned vast open skies, the rustling of wildlife in the brush, and the soothing rhythm of an untouched landscape. But as they came to know the land, greeting it with each careful step, an unsettling stillness met them. The land was silent, not with the peaceful hush of the wilderness, but with an emptiness that felt unnatural. No deer trails wove through the sagebrush, no birds soared overhead, and the wind moved through the grasses like a whisper of something long forgotten. It was as if the land was waiting, holding its breath for something yet to come.

The first time Angela set foot on the land, she had a vision of wild horses running across the landscape. It was brief, fleeting, and beautiful, but she didn’t understand what it meant. Later that day, as she walked the property with Mark, their friend John, and their dog Mo, a weight pressed in around her. The air felt heavy, thick with something unseen, and sadness clung to her in a way she couldn’t explain. It was difficult to breathe, as though the land itself carried an unspoken grief. As she walked, absorbing the vastness of the landscape’s history, her eyes were drawn to the ground, where a broken arrowhead lay nestled in the earth. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands, and in that moment, something shifted. It was as if the land itself was speaking, offering a sign that this was the place, this was the work, this was home.

In the months that followed, she invited energy practitioners from the wellness center she founded in Bend to work on the land, hoping to release whatever lingered there. Though Mark was still focused on their original vision for the ranch, he remained open to the possibility that the land needed something different. As Angela sought answers, she began to understand the weight the land carried…the echoes of its past, the memories held in the soil, the unspoken stories woven into its silence.

Angela spent the next few years working with different practitioners to restore the land’s energy. Guided by her deep connection to the land and a determination to restore balance, she witnessed subtle shifts…signs that the heaviness was beginning to lift. As the energy of the land shifted, so too did its inhabitants. For the first time in years, animals began to return. By 2020, Mark saw the spark the land had created in Angela and allowed her the space to create something new—a refuge for horses in need Broken Arrow Ranch & Sanctuary) and a retreat center for Blissful Heart.

Time and time again, as she built the multi-species sanctuary from an idea into reality, doubt would creep in, and the road ahead would seem uncertain. And yet, just when she needed reassurance, another broken arrowhead would appear. These sacred discoveries felt like a dialogue between the seen and unseen—affirmations that she was on the right path, encouragement to keep going, proof that she was not alone in this journey. Over time, the name Broken Arrow (head) Ranch emerged.

When Jordanna and Andrew, our Ranch Managers, moved onto the land in August 2024, they too began finding broken arrowheads. An enrolled member of the Hupa Tribe, Jordanna acknowledged the knapped gifts as a sign of approval from the land and ancestors. Her deep understanding of Indigenous symbolism brought profound clarity to the ranch’s purpose, revealing how the broken arrow has long been a sacred emblem of peace, balance, and the renewal of life.

In Indigenous traditions, the broken arrow is a revered symbol of peace, harmony, and the restoration of balance. It represents the end of conflict and the creation of a space where all beings can thrive in connection and mutual respect. At Broken Arrow Ranch, this meaning resonates at the core of our mission, shaping a space of interdependence, renewal, and deep remembrance.

Broken Arrow Ranch embodies the simple and cyclical rhythms of life. Here, horses, wildlife, and the land itself are not merely inhabitants but our partners in a shared journey of remembering. The desert teaches us that true abundance arises not from excess but from the delicate equilibrium between all things.