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SPOTLIGHT: Phil and Margaret Carroll

Phil’s Equine Biography: My first recollection of a horseback ride happened when I was likely about 4 years old. My Uncles had an 18-hand Belgian mare totally harnessed and were going to lead her from one farm to another, less than a mile away. My dad was a South Dakota cowboy that bragged that he didn’t walk anywhere. He had one of his brother’s-in-law give him a leg up and then handed me up to him. I had other contact with the Belgians on that farm.
Philip translates from the Greek as “lover of horses”. Dad had enough horse stories to increase the obsession and Mom used to tell about Maud chewing the neck yoke when she took her younger siblings to catechism. Maud was likely another one of those Belgians that Grandpa Lynch raised, trained and traded to pay taxes on his Wisconsin Farm.
When Mom taught at a one room school called Star Valley, occasionally when I didn’t have school, I went with her and one of her students rode his pony and gave me rides. Growing up in Wisconsin, I used every opportunity to ride friends horses because after creating all these obsessions, my parents didn’t get me a pony.
Since then I seized every opportunity to ride other people’s horses. Sometimes I paid to ride riding stable horses. Company Sales meetings were held at golf resorts. Since I didn’t golf, I organized horseback rides with stable ponies, featuring interaction between colleagues at least as good as the golf outings.
I arrived in Idaho in September 1995, living alone in studio apartment while Margaret sold the house in Michigan. The first weekend, Linda Hamilton invited me out to her place for a ride on her husband’s horse, have dinner, and a soak in the hot tub. Sizzler gave me my first ride in the Eagle Foothills and several subsequent great rides including my first “Eagle By Moonlight”, and “Diabetes Ride.” He did such a great job of teaching me, that Linda bought Ken and me a really nice paint, Checkers. He took me to the Owyhees where we escaped from a bachelor stallion. Then she acquired a Tennessee Walking Horse and I continued to post along on Checkers — but eventually I started shopping for my own gaited horse. After 11 months and a couple of trips, Linda found Timer on the internet. Two trips to southwestern Oregon and we had him shipped to Idaho.
Timer’s View Point: Not satisfied with all the miles I take him, the human now wants me to write the rest of the story. I’ve carried him thousands of miles up and down mountains. I know the New Centerville trails where we’ve done Old Selam better than he does. I have to keep him from getting us lost. Other favorite rides were Pink Flamingo where we went did a “Limited Distance Endurance Ride” with my buddy, Hector, and his human, Kathy Johnson. Only humans and crazy Arabs define 28 miles as “limited”. Getting horses and humans in shape to do a 30 mile ride in the Eagle foothills was fun. Another year at Pink Flamingo we rode with my friend, Contessa and her human, Jan. Endurance riders asked if we were doing the “50” or the LD. Our humans said we were just trail riders. Contessa likes animated trail rides.
Our most spectacular ride might be Hard Trigger Canyon in the Owyhees. One spring I taught another walking horse to cross water there. Phil counted 23 places where the trail crossed the creek. We have enjoyed other great rides in the Owyhees including one with Teton and John Frandon. We did a 30 mile ride that week end too. The humans didn’t count it because it took us two days but as I see it 17 plus 13 equals 30 and we horses got a much deserved rest.
One year we did Eagle By Moonlight with my pal, Midas, and his human, Linda. They hauled us in a trailer up to a starting point by little gulch. Then we gave the humans a ride almost home. Talk about lost humans, they made us walk clear back to the trailer to ride home. It would have been a shorter trip to just let us walk to our hay.
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So Phil and I have had many adventures. Together we’ve made many great friends both human and equine. We’ve explored high desert and ponderosa pine forests. More people know me than know him — or at least more horses do.

CHRISTMAS PARTY 2021 held at Nick and Catherine’s house in beautiful Star, ID, Prime Rib and Ham with all the fixings, about 25 of us in attendance, sharing tales of summer rides, camp outs, gift sharing, and gift stealing, what a fun night, as the year comes to a close, new officers to elect, new trail rides and camp outs to plan, fund raising for club and charity, 2022 is waiting. HO, HO, HO!