Living the cowboy way

Nestled in the Sonoran Desert just minutes south of Maricopa you’ll find Hidden Valley Stables. Here, a group of rough and rugged wranglers live in a time forgotten. They dress in chaps, spurs and vests; they wear sidearms, not for show, but for protection.

These men are cowboys, living the real West, and now they’re opening a window into their world.

Life spent ‘cowboying’

Hidden Valley Stables, which opened in October, is a venture led by Steve Porter. They offer riding lessons, trail rides, evening cookouts and overnight rides, as well as performing mock gunfights. They also train and board horses.

The head honcho of the operations, Porter sits back in his saddle on a warm post-summer day. Silhouetted against the high sun, Porter reminisces about a life spent riding and wrangling. The lines run deep across a face that has seen more in 57 years than most men his age.

Porter was born and raised on the Wyoming prairie and didn’t set foot inside a car until enrolling in the military. “I grew up on a horse, and I will die on a horse,” he said. As one of the last remaining “real” cowboys, Porter has worked in Tombstone, Old Tucson and other popular Wild West towns.

“I have worked them all; I have even broken horses for John Wayne and Hank Williams Jr.,” Porter said.

Tragedy strikes

Porter came up with the idea to start his own ranch several years ago when he bought a 10-acre piece of property in Stanfield. However, one day while working a show at the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction, tragedy struck.

Porter was in a small trailer brewing a pot of coffee when a spark ignited a propane leak and a small keg of gunpowder. The explosion blew Porter completely out of the trailer.

“They found me lying in the bushes and flew me to the hospital,” Porter said. Porter spent the next 2½ years in physical therapy. He sold his property in Stanfield.

“(The doctors) said I would never regain the use of my hands,” Porter said, as he spun a gun around his finger. They were wrong. After recovering, Porter would connect with Hidden Valley resident George Strauch, and the two would partner to launch Hidden Valley Stables.

“Maricopa doesn’t have much in the way of recreation facilities, so we thought this would be a good thing to bring to the community,” Strauch said. Strauch is a silent partner, tending the property and helping with the purchase of supplies. The other partners…ah, not so much.

New sheriff in town

Standing well over 6-feet-tall, Joe King makes a striking figure sitting on his horse. He dons a silver star on his shirt.

“Joe has that classic good-guy look, so we let him play the sheriff,” Porter said. It is fitting for a man who was once an MP in the Army. These days, King loves the serenity he finds saddling up and riding out in the desert.

“There’s not a better feeling than getting out away from everything and collecting your thoughts,” King said. “It rejuvenates you.”

King’s daughter, 18-year-old Misty King, also helps with the operations. During one of the group’s more popular skits, she holds balloons in her mouth and hands, while her father pretends to shoot them. Of course, King is firing blanks, but the effect draws “oohs and ahs” from the crowd, Misty said.

“It is one of the crowd’s favorite skits,” King said.

Bringing the West to life

Porter, King and a handful of others are currently constructing replica Wild West sets to host their small reenactments about life in the West. These are about the only staged events at the stable.

The horses on the property whinny and prance as you approach, anxious to hit the trail. Porter and King don’t just teach people to ride; they show how a horse should be saddled, brushed and fed.

These cowboys at Hidden Valley Stables don’t just offer trail rides into the mountains. They talk about having respect for the desert and its inhabitants.

“There are no built trails. We just head out towards the mountains,” King said. It is these expeditions on the open trail that create a real sense of life on the back of a horse, which sets the experience apart from the typical Wild West towns.

You won’t become a cowboy by coming to Hidden Valley Stables. But you’ll leave with a newfound respect for those who tamed the West.

If you go:

What: Hidden Valley Stables
Where: 51426 W. Sotol Road
Information: 480-321-9138
Hours: Call for an appointment
 

Photo by Jim Williams