Hillside Horseshoes at Mountain Retreat · Horseshoe Pit Vacation Rental · Ramona, CA

At Mountain Retreat · Ramona, California

Horseshoes

A regulation horseshoe pit that plays across our seasonal stream, from hill to hill.

Keep score Stay at Mountain Retreat

The pit

One pit on each hill, and the stream bed in between.

The horseshoe pit at Mountain Retreat is a regulation pit that plays across our seasonal stream, from hill to hill. You pitch from one sand pit, over the stream bed, to the stake on the far side. Then everyone walks across, and pitches back.

It is a game for every age at once. Grandparents who have pitched shoes all their lives and grandchildren throwing their very first one can share the same pit, and the same scoreboard.

The pits sit on a natural hillside, so the ground is uneven and slopes down to the stream bed. Sturdy shoes make the walk between them easy, and the little ones are happiest with a grown-up beside them at the pit.

The near horseshoe pit at golden hour: a framed sand pit and stake, a wooden backboard with red, white, blue and green horseshoes hanging on it, and a tall lamp post, with the plank crossing over the rock-lined stream bed and the far pit on the opposite slope below a granite-topped hill.
The near pit, with the far pit across the stream bed

At the pit

Everything you need is already out there.

  • Four sets of horseshoes

    Professional-quality shoes, enough for the whole group to take turns through a long afternoon.

  • A bow rake

    For smoothing the sand pits, so every game starts on a fresh, level pit.

  • A measuring stick

    For the throws that are too close to call, which is most of them by the end of the day.

  • Drink holders

    Two drink holders on each side of the pit, so nobody has to set a drink in the sand.

Horseshoes hanging on the post at the corner of the near pit, with the sand pit beside it.
Shoes at the pit
The far pit at golden hour: a sand pit and stake in front of a wooden backboard beside a tall post under the cedars, with the picnic tables and a Boulder Oak disc golf basket beyond.
The far pit, on the other hill

Keep score

The scorecard, right on your phone.

One to four players or teams. Pick each player’s shoe color, tap as each shoe is settled, and the scorecard keeps the count, round by round. It remembers the game on this phone if you step away for lunch.

  1. 1

    Name the players and pick their shoes.

  2. 2

    Tap +3 for a ringer and +1 for a close shoe.

  3. 3

    First to 11, 21 or 40 takes the blue ribbon.

Open the scorecard
The basics

The basics

Where to stand
Pitch from behind the front edge of your own pit, across the stream bed, to the stake on the far side. The stakes are 40 feet apart, the regulation distance. Younger players, and anyone who would like a shorter throw, are welcome to step forward.
An inning
Each player throws both shoes, then the other player throws both. In doubles, partners stand at opposite ends and play against the person at their end.
Ringer: 3 points
The shoe circles the stake. Tap +3.
Close: 1 point
The shoe lands within one shoe-width of the stake, about six inches, or leans against it. Tap +1.
Every shoe counts
Count each of your shoes on its own. Two close shoes: tap +1 twice. A ringer and a close shoe: tap +3 and +1. Nothing cancels, so it is the same for one player or four.
Winning
First to the score you picked wins: 11, 21 or 40. Tied at the end? Play two more innings.

The stream

The seasonal stream runs right through the game.

A seasonal stream runs through the property, and the horseshoe pit plays straight across it. Most of the year it is a bed of river stones. After a good rain it runs.

Walk off the deck and across the Fairytale Bridge, and you are on the trails: single track through manzanita and scrub oak, granite boulders the size of cars, and boardwalk where the ground gets wet in spring.

The seasonal stream running over river stones between green banks, under a small arched wooden garden bridge, with the Fairytale Bridge beyond.
Running after a winter rain
Water running down a rocky stream bed between green banks, with turquoise Adirondack chairs, the small arched garden bridge and the Fairytale Bridge in the distance.
Green banks, and the water up
The Fairytale Bridge over the creek bed, lit up at dusk, with flagstone steps, a bench and a lit oak beside it.
The Fairytale Bridge at dusk

An afternoon at the pit

First to 11, then the rematch to 21. Maybe a 40.

  1. After lunch

    Someone grabs the shoes, the sand gets a quick pass with the rake, and the first game goes to 11.

  2. The rematch

    Whoever lost asks for another. This one goes to 21, and the measuring stick comes out for the close ones. Who knows, maybe a game to 40 after that.

  3. Later on

    Everyone drifts toward the fire pit, still talking about that last throw.

The fire pit lit at dusk at the foot of the deck, ringed by turquoise Adirondack chairs, with the hot tub off to one side.

After the last game

Then the fire pit, and the stars.

We are far enough from town that the stars come out in full nearly every night. Most groups end up at the fire pit or in the hot tub, staying out much later than they meant to.

Good to know

Stay

Hillside Horseshoes comes with Mountain Retreat.

Four bedrooms, all on the ground floor, and eight acres of trail and pine at the base of Iron Mountain, with a hot tub, a fire pit, the Boulder Oak Arcade and Boulder Oak disc golf. For the length of your stay the whole property belongs to your group.

  • 14sleeps
  • 4bedrooms
  • 8acres
  • 1horseshoe pit
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