In the Neighborhood Let’s face it, deep down, everyone who comes to Arizona wants to be a cowboy. Well, maybe not the part about stretching barbed wire and sleeping on the ground, but, ahh, the ambiance. Riding down a dusty trail, crimson cliffs towering in the background, saguaros silhouetted against the blazing sun. Just like in the movies. Understandably the equestrian lifestyle looms large in the old west town of Tucson. But not all of the would-be cowboys and girls live on ranches or round up cattle. Here’s a look at how some people are living the western dream—horses, mules and ponies definitely included. Adèle Youmans grew up in England watching cowboy movies and riding primly on paved roads. She dreamed of owning a horse framed by Western landscapes and cannot believe her luck. The dream came true in living Technicolor. She met and married Bob, a member of the U. S. Air Force and came with him to Tucson. Learning of the Forest Service wild mustang adoption program, she acquired her first horse in 1985. “He chose me,” she says. “When they called my name, I had not chosen which horse I wanted. His number just came out of my mouth.” She dubbed her dream horse Dream Weaver. Adèle rides this most western of horses on endurance rides covering 50 to 100 miles a day. Adèle, Bob and her three horses live in a thirty-year-old ranching subdivision—Bel Air Ranch Estates. As in many equestrian families, the female is the one who took up the reins. Bob has a Mustang, too, but his has four wheels. Both Chris and Alicia Kemmerly’s grandfathers owned horses. Both had to compete with cousins for a chance to ride. After Chris graduated from the University of Arizona and spent many years in Chicago, they moved to Tucson. Recently they built an in-town ranch house clustered with three other homes zoned for horses. When they aren’t pleasure riding through Tanque Verde Wash, they sit on rough wooden rocking chairs by the barn and watch Robo, Chubby and Buddy cavort in a grassy pasture. Chris, a custom home builder, says that at the moment none of the neighbors own horses, “but they all like to watch ours.” The Kemmerlys chose their location because “Unless you want to go way out, there’s not horse property any more. We wanted direct or close access to the wash.” Rodger Ford, a competitive sort who has been riding for thirty years, treats his horses like athletes. He grew up in East Los Angeles. “There was a big Sears department store right across the street from me. Fifty-five years ago, Sears was a rural store. In the basement they had all the animal stuff. Saddles and chickens and geese and ducks and rabbits and all kinds of horse feed stuff. When my mother couldn’t find me, I’d be over there in the animal section, often just sitting on a saddle.” He and Amy raised their kids on a mini-ranch on the east side of Tucson. Amy got interested in riding first and then Rodger joined her. Now, he and his quarter horses compete in team penning events across the country, and the Ford’s Arabian steeds go on the long distance treks called endurance rides. When the children left home, he wanted a somewhat smaller property just large enough to contain their small herd of nine. When he had trouble finding four acres with access to trails, Ford bought 75 acres and created a horse community called Santa Paula Ranch at Tanque Verde Loop and Speedway. Lots surround a twenty-acre professionally run stable facility that caters to English style riding and dressage. The demand was so great that Rodger and his partners are working on a second development near the equine gate to Saguaro National Park. Not all horses bed down on the far east or northwest sides of Tucson on mini ranches. Many riders live in the central city and board their horses in one of the dozens of stables in and around Tucson. Others have an acre lot with equestrian zoning. Recently a variety of developments planned around horses have sprung up in Tucson and southern Arizona. Some, like Ford’s Santa Paula, are meant for people who want to keep their horse on their own property, but others provide separate equine facilities. At Coyote Creek in Vail only 35 of the 395 lots are meant to accommodate both horses and houses. Everyone else has access to central barns for boarding. Facilities include three arenas and two round pens, a horse walker and trail easements throughout the property. “When I was in college I used to ride all over the Catalina foothills. Then I went away and when I came back after about twelve years the trails were gone,” says developer Peter Backus. “I realized if we were going to be able to ride we needed to create perpetual access to the state and federal lands.” He did no marketing analysis. “Even if the marketing studies came back negative, I was going to do it anyhow,” he says. Some people just want to see horses as part of the landscape without ever actually getting a saddle sore. Others want the ability to ride for miles and return to have someone else take care of the feeding, brushing, medicating and mucking out stalls. Buyers who plunk down a million dollars or more for a five-acre lot in Saguaro Ranch north of Tucson will own their piece of a bygone age, says owner Steve Phinney. “It is a way of life that doesn’t exist any more. It gives people a warm feeling to see that it (the old West) hasn’t disappeared.” Like Shangrai-Lai, this property hides behind ridges that wall it off from the modern world. The property climbs two miles south to north and one mile east to west over foothills of the Tortolita Mountains on the northwest side of Tucson. The jagged hills are cloaked in the densest possible desert growth. A botanical survey estimated 17,000 saguaro cactuses over six feet tall stud the property. The cactus and the cliffs provide plenty of scenic backdrop for the wannabe cowboys riding the equestrian trails that weave through the property and lead to Tortolita Mountain State Park. When it is completed, the horses will live at the “Horse Ranch.” They will make themselves at home in a barn faced with natural rock and live-in ranch hands will pamper them. They will train and compete in an arena roofed with authentic rusty metal and built with special attention to footing smooth enough for the most finicky horse. The horses and the ranch take the place of a golf course in most developments. Here instead of fairway lots, the premium lots will face the ranch and give instant access to the horses. Property owners who are buying a 2nd, 3rd or 4th home, visiting Tucson only part of the year, will be able to rent a horse, take a trail ride, or take riding lessons at the horse ranch, without concern about the daily care of a horse. Or they can bring their horse from wintry climates and extend their riding season to a full twelve months. Horses and ranchettes are nothing new in Santa Cruz County, but Jackie Brasher, a real estate agent from Tubac has seen an explosion of interest in the past two years. “People want an old adobe on ten acres,” she says. “People who always wanted something more rural for their retirement, since 9-11 have accelerated their plans. What was once a five- to ten-year plan now becomes a two-year plan.” Technology allows people to telecommute if they want to keep working. Californians can get from Los Angles to Tubac in just over two hours, she points out, so some flee the freeways to spend weekends with their horses on the ranch. Lucy Kraft, a realtor who responded to increased demand by forming a “ranch group” within Long Realty Company, agrees. “Rather than seeing an expansion of 1 to 3.3 acre lots with horse privileges in suburban neighborhoods, we see an increased demand for semi-rural, rural and even remote acreage suitable for private retreats with riding opportunities and gentlemen's ranches or estates.” Down by Patagonia, a one-time guest ranch is being carved into parcels for horse people. A portion of the Rail-X Ranch will accommodate 25 people on 40 acre-parcels. Developer Forrest Metz figures about half of those people will have horses on their properties. The rest just want the space. Equestrian and pedestrian paths will wind around the lots and the paths provide instant access to the Sonoita Creek on the West and National Forest Service land on the East. Besides the general activities of racing, endurance riding, competitive trail riding and just plain pleasure riding, Tucson horsemen and horsewomen compete in English or Western arena events. The English discipline includes the subtle moves of dressage, or three-day eventing when they practice various disciplines each day. Many go for the Western sports that grew out of real cowboy work—barrel racing, cutting, team penning, pole bending and team roping. Each of these sports has its own organization, publications and many web sites. Competition in horse shows is very popular with both English and Western riders. Nobody seems to be able to get them to stand still long enough for an accurate count, but the Arizona State Horsemen’s Association figures there are far more horses in Arizona in the 21st century than in the early twentieth century. The old west rides again.
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