Horseback riding close to home

Arizona Horserides is cantering into its second year in Maricopa. Manager Peggy Linnan runs a riding stable in Alaska during the summer, and then comes to Arizona for the winter, bringing her eight trusty horses along for the ride. The stable operates here from late October through April in a scenic mountainside location off West Papago Road about 12 miles from town, offering riding lessons, guided trail rides and family camps.

“We have 3.3 acres and can do one-hour, two-hour or half-day rides on the Bureau of Land Management property west of here,” Linnan says. “If we go out for an hour, we ride to the base of the mountains and then come back. The two-hour ride takes us out around the mountains and then back through them. The half-day rides are wonderful. You really get out into the wilderness. On those longer rides, I also offer a barbeque meal afterwards, and try to schedule it so that we can watch the sunset from the deck while we eat.”

The basic rate is a reasonable $25 an hour for trail riding, but Linnan also offers special family rates to make her services more affordable.

“I had a gal call the other day who wanted to come out with her husband and two daughters and go for a ride. That would have been $125 for that family of five to do a one hour ride, so I told her, ‘Why don’t we do a little minicamp? You can come out and groom and saddle and go for an hour ride and I’ll charge you a hundred bucks.’ She was very happy with that.

“I am a new business and I want to build my customer base. I also want to serve the community. I remember times when I didn’t have the money to go riding and I know how much it means to be able to go and do something you enjoy. If I give someone a discount, it is not going to take my arm off and it is better than standing around in the field all day.

“A lot of my business is repeat customers. If someone comes once, and finds that it is not too expensive and that they or their kids really enjoy it and do well at it, they are more likely to come back and ride again or take lessons.”

Linnan, who has a degree in human services from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, got into wrangling by accident.

“I have always loved horses,” she says. “I could never afford to own a one, but my dad and I used to go trail riding together all the time when I was young and I felt a special bond with these animals. When I went back to college in Alaska, I used to go riding at a stable up there regularly and one day the owner asked me if I would take some riders out. I said, ‘Sure, great, a free ride.’ And he said, ‘No, I will pay you.’ That was even better from my point of view, getting paid to do what I like to do. I led four rides that day and I have been doing it ever since.”

After three years at that first stable, Linnan went to work for Deborah Baines, her current boss.

“Deborah owns the property here and in Alaska. We can’t ride year-round in Alaska so after a couple of years, we decided to open a place here. My boyfriend, Greg, and I are investors in the business and we put the building in. I run the business with one employee, Jim Lemmon, and a couple of volunteers.”

The grounds and buildings are tidy and well-maintained, with an office, large deck, firepit and Old West tack shop adjacent to the horse corrals. The horses are a mix of palominos, paints and at least one part- Arabian, that range in age from 4 to 20.

“It is not so much about a cowboy experience out here,” Linnan says. “My main focus is on the bond between the rider and the horse. Horses are such magnificent animals and they are unconditional. If you are good to them, they will be good to you. I have lots of children and beginners, and I show people how to saddle their horse and how to trail ride and then unsaddle and feed the horse and put it away. It is a whole experience. We take children as young as 7. If the parents don’t want them to go out on the trail they can just spend time with the horses and ride in the arena.

“The other wonderful thing about riding in a beautiful place like this is the environment, being out in nature, getting away from the world. You really kind of lose yourself, just riding through the mountains in the desert. It can be a great self-esteem booster and wonderful way to relax.

“People ask me all the time why I am doing this instead of using my human services degree. I tell them I am using it — every day.”

Arizona Horserides
Hours: Seven days a week by reservation
Cost: $25 per hour for guided trail rides
Location: 54978 W. Barnes Road
Phone: 520-840-3281
Web: arizonahorserides.com