If you've ever ventured catty corner from a track meet at Big Sky High School to see where a galloping horse was going on a random Saturday in summertime, you might have been wonderfully welcomed to the Big Sky Horse Park.
There truly is no greater invitation than hearing the thundering of horse hooves making way through a freshly mowed cross-country course, or seeing their glistening coat shine in the sun with a rider aboard. One could know nothing about horses and still, somehow, feel this rush of emotion upon seeing them, maybe even feel a swell of tears coming on. After all, this is Montana. Horses are part of the picture here. And in Missoula, this park is an epicenter for equine events for locals and travelers from all over the state and region. In fact, the youths of the Pacific Northwest have been frequenting events such as the Flying Colors Mini-Event and Open Dressage Show for so many years that kids are growing up right here at our hometown competitions—events that are ultimately made possible by our community.
It’s very likely that one may walk their dog at the Park every morning, maybe let them take a dip in the ditch that flows through its center and dry off their coats in the tall grass on the way home. They may pass mothers or fathers pushing baby strollers, kids riding their bikes along the 1.7 mile perimeter trail that was established in 1999 with the help of Susan Beyer and Big Sky Stewardship Committee, and it’s also possible that they may never see a horse at the Horse Park during all the hours they spend there. But what that diligent Park user doesn’t see is the little girl whose parents spend whatever spare money they have on their daughter’s athletic life. She takes lessons every week, for years, has to haul her horse here from states away, makes sure the horse feels comfortable in the stables at our Park, and that same little girl will compete here on a sunny Saturday morning because she’s been working all year to do well at this very particular opportunity. An opportunity that has been carefully orchestrated by countless sponsors and volunteers. And where there is a story like hers, there are a hundred more just like it.
And that’s where President of the Big Sky Horse Park, Karla Nichwander, chimes in just before she spends the day announcing riders, pinnings, and overall, keeping the day’s events running smoothly when the Mini-Event starts up. “It’s an opportunity to engage with the horse and engage with your buddies—you’re out there and you’re just doing it…It’s such an easy, low-key way to experience competition, or observing someone else and setting a goal for yourself. It really comes down to giving our youth that opportunity.”
As her voice carries out into the breezy summer day, a woman pushing her toddler in a stroller on the perimeter trail stops and shields the sun from her face and several of us watch a dark pony canter out across the field—ears perked forward. It’s Alycia Nortz aboard Midnight. They come down to a trot for a few steps as her mount takes in the surroundings, nostrils flared, and Alycia reaches down, rein in hand, and calls out, “It’s ok, you know what to do.” They get their canter back and away they go toward the next fence and then they power off to several other fences out of our view. Cross-country is an exhilarating and challenging phase of the eventing discipline, and due to the nature of the widespread course, it’s a true treasure in our region for the equine community to use our Park as a training facility and competition ground to further the education of horses and riders who want to explore that avenue. Accessibility is everything.
“Later this month we’ll have our third Family Fun O-Mok-See—we’ll have kids on ponies, all the way up to teens on their horses. They’re doing western games and using the flags and learning how to navigate an arena, and we have the set up for that,” says Karla. “And then we have this Flying Colors Mini-Event, where they’re out using the other 90 acres of the Park. To have the ability to have all of that under one umbrella is such an amazing opportunity for any discipline, or even just for that nostalgic old lady like myself, or the little kid who’s dreaming and wants to go watch—to have it in our yard is so wonderful, but it doesn’t come cheap.”
As a realtor, Karla also knows that money talks. So how do we protect this vast open space like the jewel that it is? “If we properly manage the Park and we show, not necessarily profit, but show good stewardship, good improvements, a lot of use, then it’ll never go away, right?” says Karla. “But if we leave it fallow and let it be, then I think you run the risk.” On a day like the particular day of the Mini-Event, the Park is bustling with kids and their steeds. Some horses need an extra look at a fence before they take flight and some kids do, too. But they count their strides, if you’re close enough to the rail, you can hear them. Their cheeks are rosy with the heat of the day and everyone’s getting a bit sweaty as lunchtime rolls around.
“The beauty of the Park is that those entry fees or that membership—it’s so nominal that you can do it and still put food on the table or grain in their bucket,” says Karla, who had a pony once herself. Named Meatball. Her parents had a butcher shop over where Grizzly Grocery is and she’d walk her little self from the South Side of town to North Avenue, swing a lead rope over his neck, put a halter on him, and ride him all the way across town. “I think people are nostalgic for that. I think there’s something about the safety and security of pure enjoyment of your hometown. And we were city folk—it wasn’t like we were out on the farm, on the ranch or anything. It was right here in Missoula.”
"It’s such an easy, low-key way to experience competition, or observing someone else and setting a goal for yourself. It really comes down to giving our youth that opportunity.”