A Blanket Statement
Pete Ganibi has led quite a life. A professional polo player, horse trainer and newspaper ad salesman, he has, in his words, “banged around a lot.” His is a life of discovery and of seizing opportunities when they arise.
“Horses have always been important to me. I could see the path to be a part of that world at an early age, and polo seemed to be the direction.”
It was quite a goal for a young kid from Southern California. I asked Pete how that all came about.
“I worked my whole young life to be a polo player,” Pete told me from his shop in Los Olivos, California. “I started at racetracks — Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar. I would get up early and head to the track. I was 17 or 18 and would pretend I was an assistant trainer and hot walk horses. I did that till I got out of high school, and then I got a job grooming horses for the USFIP [Federation of International Polo] tournament. That year, it was in Santa Barbara, [California], at the polo grounds near Carpinteria.
Pete Ganibi living the dream in the red jersey center. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
“In 1998, I got an actual job with an American team doing grooming and loping horses for them,” Pete continued. “And I just kind of grew in the game form there. The one thing I made sure of was, and this I found to be very important, that I stayed around top players. They had the means to house me and take care of me as I looked after their horses, 10 goal-rated guys like Memo Gracida [who now operates out of the Santa Ynez Valley] and Mike Azzaro, who lives in San Antonio.
“It got to a point that I was not only playing polo but also training horses for these players. I was a dual-purpose guy for them, and I figured that was why they kept me around. You have to remember that polo was a bit different in the early 2000s. The horses, most of them, came from the track, and that was where I grew up and knew a lot of the trainers. So, I was making horses for these high-goal players and following the circuit in search of my then dream to be a professional. I would go to Palm Beach, [Florida], in the winter and played in Boca Raton, [Florida], for the season and then to Katy, Texas, to play with Azzaro and Owen Rinehart.”
I asked him what got him back to California from all that nationwide polo action.
“I’m a Californian and grew up in Pasadena,” Pete told me. “My dad was a ranch manager who worked down in Thermal, [California], where I got exposed early on to polo. That’s mostly in the winter, as the summer is so hot there. And that’s where and when I got to see him — during the summers there. And I got the bug to play polo there. Beyond polo, I love to surf and fish around the Channel Islands. So, when I came back, I started riding for Tom Barrack and at the Santa Barbara Polo Club. I spent some time in Hawaii, playing, and then came back to California.
“My wife and I were having kids, so we decided it was time to lose the gypsy lifestyle. I was starting horses for a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, and my wife, Jaye, and I got this idea for a business that, since we were in wine country, combined a wine experience with riding horses. We loved the idea of working with the public, and with [Los Angeles] just a couple of hours away, we figured we could attract some folks for such an experience.”
I asked him, “And that was the start of Vino Vaqueros?”
Pete and Jaye Ganibi. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi
Pete and his wife, Jaye, started the experiential Vino Vaqueros wine-tasting and trail ride business in the wine region of the Santa Ynez Valley. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
“Yes. I had initially talked to my friend who runs Los Padres Outfitters, and that was where I found some support for the idea and some gentle horses at first,” Pete explained. “The whole idea was to merge the Santa Ynez Valley wine-tasting experience with horseback riding through some incredible vineyards and scenery at Round Up Valley Ranch and Estelle Vineyards. All those three things have to work, and somehow, we made it happen, and it’s still going strong.”
Pete heading. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
Pete says it took several years before the whole deal caught on, but now Jaye runs the enterprise. Not to be one to sit on his hands, Pete knew he didn’t want to get back into polo, but all his local ranch friends kept urging him to ride and gather with them, so he started cowboying locally and “loaning” himself out for brandings. This included multi-day gathers at outfits like the Cojo-Jalama Ranch and its 25,000 acres that sit at the edge of the Pacific Ocean south of Santa Maria, near the Vandenberg Air Force base. He did that for four or five years.
“It was the best time,” Pete told me.
But it also was the start of an idea. All those multi-day gathers meant there was a lot of sleeping outside, and he felt that something needed to be done to bring a little more well-designed “contemporary comfort” to the outdoor sleep experience.
“Put simply,” Pete explained, “I started Bullkelp Bedrolls to find the solution for sleeping in comfort outside in sometimes tough conditions. Like what I did cowboying but also for people who were wildland firefighters, in the military and first responders.”
His Bullkelp Bedrolls, named after the fast-growing (up to a foot a day) kelp found around Santa Rosa Island, makes a variety of bedroll styles, as well as soft goods made from carefully sourced canvas.
Luke Branquinho with his Bullkelp Bedroll. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
Bullkelp Bedrolls are popular with outdoorsman, cowboys and hotshot firefighters. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
“Once I got the design initially figured out,” Pete said, “I started having them made in New Zealand, then in India, but settled on them being American-built when I was introduced to some artisanal Amish folks in Indiana. They help me source the canvas and do all the leather strappings needed, and it really works well.”
Blanket cutaway showing the insulation baffles. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
In addition to bedrolls, Pete has a line of cots and accessories, and each item can be personalized. The idea for the horse blankets came about, kind of like the bedrolls — with comfort in mind — this time for the horse.
“I was able to find this breathable material that is at once very strong and really waterproof; it’s very hard to tear,” Pete said. “But the real benefit is that the material is super waterproof without needing a [Polyurethane] coating. It’s lined with quilted, rip-stop nylon — that we manufacture — and then a 10- to 12-ounce fill with another layer of our rip-stop nylon, which helps keep down the weight. The temperature range is pretty great — from 10-60 degrees Fahrenheit — because the material is so breathable. It’s really going to be a nice addition for horsemen all over. And because we manufacture the baffled material, someone could ask for more fill if the temperature range they are in requires it.
A blanket front closure. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
“The real advance in our design is the front closure. Making bedrolls is one thing — one size fits most, but horse blankets and turnouts have to fit a variety of horses, and I hate size runs. So, the front closure is sort of a wrap, and it can almost adjust to two full sizes. We make sizes like most blankets, and this design will be a revelation to many horse owners, I believe.”
One thing that is readily seen in Pete and his approach to just about everything he does is that he aligns himself with solid, smart people. Some really inventive ideas can spring from those relationships — like his new relationship with Resistol. Ideas like a truly comfortable bedroll and a newly designed horse blanket or turnout with both humans and horses in mind. The blankets will be available in the fall on the Bullkelp Bedrolls’ website and will come in black, navy, red and tan.
New relationship launching with Resistol. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
Field-testing blanket prototype. Photo courtesy of Pete Ganibi.
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