Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Silva.
Hi Kat, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It all started when Matt Barnett, the owner, bought the ranch in 2015 and he wasn’t really sure what to do at first. He then ran a leadership camp, and it did so good but having people to work out here was a bit hard.
He came upon to meet me two years ago and with my background in photography that I’ve done for 10 years he asked me if I wanted to manage weddings out there, to coordinate and so we set up the ranch to be able to run weddings. Then that was in 2024 and at the end of that year I came up with the ideas of the Ladies Retreat.
I started traveling by myself and going hiking and going to different places and exploring to refresh and recharge. I want other woman to start doing the same and be certain they will be able to go out by themselves. They have to be with other women that love adventure, love doing things, so the retreats works for that.
We all come together new friendships. Everything is new. The activities are all included, the lodging, the food also for the whole weekend and is absolutely a blast. We include things like hiking, which includes our fossils and dinosaur bones that there are out there with some calcite rocks also.
We do some off-roading which is very beginning and we just encourage people to come even if they don’t have a 4 x 4 because they can always hop in somebody else’s car and ride with us and see the absolutely beautiful scenery that West Texas brings plus the night brings your dark starry skies. It’s absolutely fascinating, a magical day.
We do a full day of doing lots of things with firearms. The ladies can get their LTC license then and and we do lots of effects with some explosions,
Which Matt Barnett owns Bonetti explosives and he’s able to do all that with his license and we just love the retreats and we hope to do from 2 to 4 retreats a year. We did run two successfully so far and it was absolutely amazing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s a struggle always to get the retreats filled. We can take 12 ladies and we have had max of 5 at one retreat. It’s a bit farther location and we get it. But it’s worth it all. With social media helps but it’s hard to have to create content constantly to promote us.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m the events manager here at the ranch. The ranch is over 1000 acres and we have a huge range we can shoot any kind of firearm out here. Our events run for the weekend and we include loading and food and all activities. From horse back riding. Hikes with dinosaur bones. Off roading to amazing water holes that is rare in the desert. Shooting all kind of firearms and explosives and you have a chance to get your LTC also.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
We definitely take risks in building all this. We are still in the negatives. It’s early on and we knew it. We spend more than we get. But it’s an investment we are willing to make because we believe the retreats will fill up always and eventually all workout. You gotta take risk otherwise you’ll never know what could be. We believe this is so fun and unique and it’s just trying to get the word out there about what we do
Pricing:
- Retreats are around $1500 per person
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Pordosolranch.com
- Instagram: PordoSol.tx
- Facebook: Pordosolranch.tx
- Youtube: Pordosolranch
