In the Beginning

One of our blogging friends recently shared her introduction to her life with horses. I decided it was time to share how we got started.

Betty had hurt her back in the mid-90's. As part of her recuperation she read a lot of books about strengthening her back - exercise, stretching, etc. One of the books said that horse back riding was good for your back if you learned to ride properly - with the correct posture. We were planning a trip to Alaska and one of our stops was at a wilderness lodge East of Denali where the only things you could do (besides veg out) was to hike or ride horses. She suggested we take some riding lessons to see if we liked it and if her back would handle it.

So, we took some lessons at a local riding stable that basically focused on defensive riding - what to do to keep yourself out of trouble. Betty fell in love with riding and, eventually, I did too. Our trip to Alaska was great. At the lodge we rode along glacier rivers during the day and, after supper, we would ride to an area where we could have a camp fire. On those evening rides we would see moose grazing next to a little pond. We even did an all day ride up to a mountain pass where we saw caribou, mountain goats and evidence where grizzly bears had been recently. At the end of that ride a river we had to cross to get back to the lodge had risen significantly so we had to swim our horses across. It was all a great adventure and we were hooked.

That was about 12 years ago. From that point on we would schedule horse back rides wherever we went on personal vacation or business trips. In 2001 we decided to go to see the Calgary Stampede, a big rodeo/fair in Calgary, Alberta. We asked our travel agent to find us a guest ranch where we could go riding for a week while we were in that area. That's how we found the Lazy M Ranch and Lane and Margie Moore. All the other ranches we had visited prior to this trip were places where your horse was saddled and ready in the morning and they took it from you after the last ride of the day. At the Lazy M Lane wanted us to learn all we could about horses so we were responsible for everything. They taught us how to groom, pick feet, saddle, and take care of the horse after the ride. They also had riding camps in the Canadian Rockies where we had some real riding adventures. We loved it and went back to the Lazy M every year after that. We learned about horse training in the following years and talked a lot with Lane about what it meant to own a horse. They encouraged us that we could be horse owners and do very well. They have also become some of our best friends as well as horsemanship mentors.

In 2004 we moved to Corrales, New Mexico with the idea that we might buy our own horses. However, we decided we would take at least a year to make that decision to be sure we didn't rush into anything. During that year we went riding at a stable South of Santa Fe - Broken Saddle Stables - where we were introduced to gaited horses. They have both Missouri Fox Trotters and Tennessee Walkers. Gaited horses have a flat, running walk that can be extremely fast, but is also extremely smooth which was nice on our older bodies.

In the Spring of 2005 when we decided to buy horses we met a gaited horse trainer who lives in Corrales and he introduced us to Icelandic Horses. As he told us, "Their tolt (smooth gait) is easy on old bodies and their shorter stature means that when you fall off you're closer to the ground." We rode one of the Icelandic Horses that lives in Corrales and fell in love with them. We started researching Icelandic Horses that were for sale - all out of state at that time.

About that same time we decided to keep our horses at our house rather than board them which is a decision we have never regretted for one second. The man who built our house is a horseman - he breeds show Appaloosas - and he built our two stall stable over the next several months.

In late July of 2005, the owner of one of the Icelandic Horses we had ridden, decided she needed to reduce her herd and reluctantly put Morgunn up for sale. One day later he belonged to me. The neat thing is we bought him on July 1 which is our anniversary.


A month later Betty spotted an Icelandic Horse for sale in Utah. Our trainer friend joined us, we hooked the trailer to the truck and headed for Spanish Forks, Utah about the middle of August. After meeting and riding Gletta and getting a vet check (which she passed with flying colors), Gletta belonged to Betty and we brought her home.

Since then we've ridden around our neighborhood, through the Bosque (woods) along the Rio Grande, along the many irrigation ditches, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, and even in a gaited horse show at the Sandoval County Fair in Cuba, NM. We've had our bumps and bruises, but we've also had some of the most enjoyable times of our lives.

What started as an enjoyable vacation experience flowered over the years to a way of life that we now love.