Rocky Run Stables is an equine boarding and educational facility.
Elizabeth Wilson
Beth owned and operated Rocky Run Stables since 1987 and has been involved with horses for over 50 years. Having planned on getting miniature horses some day it became evident when Paula Moore began volunteering at Rocky Run Stables that her dream came true. Paula introduced her to the world of miniature horses. Beth then decided to implement the miniature horse visitation program in memory of her parents.
Elizabeth, or Beth, Wilson grew up singing in her mother’s church choir and spending time canoeing with the Girl Scouts along with spending time with her family on the St. Croix River on the houseboat her father built. Her family was supportive and provided music and riding lessons for her and her brother and then purchased a horse for her to “keep her out of trouble.” Riding lessons continued and she rode many miles along the roads and in the pastures where she boarded her horse. Her father rented a horse trailer, pulled it with his Valiant car that overheated on hills, and watched her compete in area horse shows. She often rode her horse to her house in town, let it graze in the backyard while she practiced piano and then rode it back to the farm. Her father obtained another horse and Beth and her father spent many weekends trail riding. Eventually, one horse was sold to pay for books at college and the other was sold before her senior year in college as the farm where the horse was kept was being sold. St. Olaf College had a wonderful choral program and Beth completed her degree in music education there. She is forever grateful to her instructors at St. Olaf and the wonderful choirs in which she was able to sing. College summers were spent counseling at a Girl Scout Ranch in Colorado where she was first hired to teach canoeing. Her love of horses and ability to ride were soon discovered and she was transferred to the horse unit where she taught riding lessons, led trail rides and pack trips, and then became the Program Director of the Riding Program.
Beth was blessed to obtain her first choral music teaching job before she graduated from college. She loved her career working with middle and high school students, along with several years at the college level, for over thirty-four years. Beth completed her Master’s Degree in Education along the way and loved working with students as the music director for many musicals at the high schools, college and in the community.
The only years Beth didn’t own a horse were during her last year of college and the first year of her teaching career. She can’t imagine not waking up in the morning and going out to feed her horses. A friend of Beth’s introduced her to dressage one day when they were doing an early morning trail ride and she got hooked. Beth was fortunate to find wonderful instructors and was able to compete in dressage and in combined training. Galloping through the woods and jumping obstacles was a childhood dream! She found that she needed an indoor arena to keep riding through northern Minnesota winters and purchased the farm where she now lives, Rocky Run Stables, in 1987. She started boarding horses and provided clinics and lessons for many years while maintaining her teaching career.
Beth learned about equine massage after one of her horses was injured in the field and she and a friend traveled to Round Hill, Virginia to study and become certified in Equine Sports Massage at Equissage with Mary Schreiber, in 1987. Her dressage trainer, originally from Germany, scoffed and commented, “Only in America would they massage horses!” Beth told her about the program and the results, and her trainer went on to take the course and then said that “every trainer should be an equine massage therapist” because the horse’s physical being affects its training. Beth continued to dabble in other forms of holistic healing including Quantum Touch, Essential Oils and Sound Healing. She spent part of several summer vacations at various riding clinics and participated in Horsemanship Clinics and Riding Instructor Clinics at the University at River Falls, WI.
Beth’s mother passed away in 2009 and she retired from her teaching career to help care for her father in June of 2010. She attended the Liberated Horsemanship School in the fall of 2010 to learn about barefoot trimming and has trimmed the horses in her barn since that time. Retirement also meant opportunity for other things; she took a woodworking class, swing dance lessons, spent more time in the gardens, travelled and was able to experience different seasons riding the trails on her farm. A volunteer at her farm introduced her to Pet Partners and their miniature horse therapy program and she decided to find a few miniature horses and become a handler for Pet Partners. The minis were taken to local schools to teach children about horses, and students even read to them. They walked the Lakewalk in Duluth, visited many events and assisted care facilities before the pandemic caused the program to stop. Beth continued to learn and studied Equine Nutrition and Pasture Management through the University of Minnesota Extension program.
A friend met Jim Masterson at the Minnesota Horse Expo and wanted to attend a Masterson Method™ clinic. Beth went along and found she appreciated the “lightness” of the work. She continued studying the Masterson Method™ and attained her certification in June of 2020. Jess Cannon, a talented horsewoman and instructor at North Country Ride, worked for Beth at her farm for several years and commented that they needed more instructors. Beth was familiar with NCR as the classic rock band that Beth played in, “Gramps With Amps” had played at several of NCR’s fundraisers and the program had been at Beth’s farm for several years before purchasing land in Esko. Beth studied, passed her evaluation, and became a certified PATH Riding Instructor in June of 2018. Beth continues to take care of horses, teaches a few riding lessons, does bodywork for horses, judges a few vocal contests now and then, works on family genealogy and finds that each day presents something new to learn. Beth looks forward to her continued journey with horses and the people who love them!
