After thirty-some years of breeding, boarding, training, showing and teaching riding lessons in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, fifty-something breeder/trainer/teacher, Pat Buls of Radium Springs (NM), is starting to slow down – somewhat – mellowing may be a better word because the three-time grandmother who is known as The Gentle Tamer will probably totally slow down only when she’s finally laid to rest for the big sleep.

The daughter of retired career Air Force officer, Milt Buls and wife, Sammy, Pat has been in a long trot from the day she was born – like a good horse she hit the ground running and has yet to slow down. And from the time she could communicate, she never let her parents forget that what she wanted more than anything else in life was a horse – and her entire life has revolved around horses.

As a child in California, Pat would pester her parents for a pony. Her first “pony” was her pa – Milt would get down on all fours and give Pat rides around the living room. Little did the colonel know what a little monster he was un-leashing – but he soon found out. A local farmer had rigged up a portable stanchion and would pull the outfit around the neighborhood offering pony rides. Pat would climb the tallest eucalyptus she could find and lay in wait for the farmer and his ponies.

From the Golden State, the family was transferred to Alabama where at age ten Pat began her horse career in earnest, joining a pony club where she seized the opportunity to not only ride the resident horses, but help start their training. From the sunny south, the next duty station was the rolling hills of Kansas – Fort Leavenworth to be exact – home of the last U. S. Army Cavalry Post. Here Pat was fortunate to come under the tutorship of a retired Cavalry officer – and she could not have had a better mentor. He taught her the military way of riding and caring for horses. Pat said it was at Fort Leavenworth that she learned not only the right way to ride, but also developed a sound foundation of safety and respect for horses.

With over a hundred horses and their riders to observe, Pat became a sharp student of not only the animal’s behavior under different circumstances but also how the riders dealt with that behavior. She noticed that many riders created problems which made life miserable for rider and mount -- some riders even being abusive to the horse that was trying it’s best to figure out what it was that the rider wanted it to do. That experience just helped formulate a scenario in Pat’s mind, that once she had a horse of her own, she’d be very aware of the communication process that is so critical between horse and rider – and she vowed to never, ever, be abusive to an animal – and for almost half a century she’s been true to those vows.

From the wind-swept plains of America, the Buls family was transferred to the highest city in the world, La Paz, Bolivia, where Milt was attached to the U.S. Air Force Mission. Some of the family members had trouble adjusting to the 13,000-feet elevation, but Pat never slowed in her search for a horse of her own. And through a series of happenstances – and being in the right place at the right time, it finally happened – the horse hunter had her horse. ”Most of the horses we were seeing,” she recalls, “were in poor health – stunted little things. We finally found a decent horse at an auction; bought him and boarded him at the Bolivian Army Cavalry stable.”

As in many European and South American countries, the Army’s cavalry is a symbol of pride and it’s considered one of the country’s highest honors to be on the elite equestrian team. The Bolivian Army accepted the top five cadets on the military jumping team and Pat’s fearless riding exhibitions had not gone un-noticed by team members. She was “adopted” by the team and eventually, after a trial by fire – riding and “taming” a vicious Thoroughbred gelding by sitting in his manger where he couldn’t kick her and talking to him – she became the civilian member of the riding team. She underwent training with the cadets and went on military maneuvers in the Andes Mountains – and faced down another test of her tenacity.

“We would jump about anything – and I mean anything – our captain was fearless. Once we came to a chasm which must have been at least 15-feet across, and just as deep. All the cadets just sailed over like it was an every-day occurrence. I was on a green horse, just imported from Argentina, who skidded to a halt so he could get a better look. He did not like what he saw – and neither did I. Then the captain came down on the horse’s hip with a riding crop. The horse crouched; I prayed to my guardian angel, grabbed leather and hung on for dear life – and we somehow made it from a standstill!”

Pat gives her guardian angel credit for getting her through all of life’s little crises from that 15-foot leap on a green horse in the 60s to meeting a train on the tracks on another green-broke horse near Hatch (NM) near the end of 2005. She admits, “My mom says I always was a bold child.” In 1977, this bold child, after receiving her nursing certificate from New Mexico State University, proceeded to ride the Continental Divide, in hopes of helping to establish its recognition as a National Scenic Trail. She said she was inspired by a woman who had ridden the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.

1977 was one of the hottest, driest years on record in NM and forest fires were burning in several national forests, yet – as intrepid explorers Lewis and Clarke, 150 years earlier – Pat pressed on – on horseback. She left Las Cruces on a quarter horse mare and meandered up through the Gila National Forest and the Gila Wilderness, occasionally having to detour on roads to avoid the fires, scrounging for food for herself and the mare as she went. After five weeks of wandering in the wilderness, Pat and pony happened upon a cave in the Jemez Mountains. Seeing as how the cave was complete with a hot springs and an apple orchard, the road-weary pair rested in their own little piece of paradise until the wanderlust set in again a week or two later.

Pat’s cross-country trek a-horseback was similar to Native Americans’ vision quest - it was not only a spiritual trip, but a life-changing experience. It moved her to not only write an epic poem about the journey, but also to dedicate her life to her Creator; and to helping horses and their people communicate better. Pat ended up obtaining a nursing job in Taos to get through the winter. The next summer she drove and rode a herd of green-broke horses over the Continental Divide with her six year-old son, Ben, an old horse trainer she’d met in the hospital and a photographer friend. And went from one of the hottest summers on record in New Mexico to one of the coldest winters on record in Colorado, where she & Ben survived in a small cabin and she supported them by training horses.

That winter had a profound effect on Pat – she decided she was not a mountain woman – but a desert rat. As soon as the snow melted and the pickup would start they high-tailed it for southern Arizona. The next year Pat returned to Las Cruces where her parents lived in retirement. She’s been boarding, breeding, training horses and teaching riding lessons at her Shining Heart Farm on the northern edge of Radium Springs, (twenty miles north of Las Cruces) ever since.

And if this wasn’t enough to keep the average grandma off the streets and out of trouble, Pat started the Lower Rio Grande Back Country Horsemen (LRGBCH), a chapter of BCH of NM and Back Country Horsemen of America (BCHA). She’s past president of LRGBCH and current secretary/treasure and newsletter editor. She’s passionate about the wilderness; about horsemen’s rights to ride on public lands and while she’s shown horses to championships, has worked on ranches, in livestock auctions and as a member of a mounted security team, she is now not only working on new trails and maintaining existing trails, but also on trail riding and encourages others to join her.

“As a BCHA member,” she explains, “I’m now focusing more on training beginning riders – introducing them to the sport – stressing safety measures – encouraging riders to be safe on the trail and encouraging them to be responsible trail riders.”

Since 1999, Pat and LRGBCH has worked closely with the Las Cruces office of Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in maintaining old trails; planning, scouting, marking and building new trails and trailheads. LRGBCH has also worked with the Black Range Ranger District out of T-or-C, scouting and clearing trails. Pat says Southern New Mexico offers a desert paradise for horsemen. “We have some of the best winter riding in the country around here and when it gets too hot to work in the desert it’s only a short drive to the mountains. This is the perfect place for horse people.”

And for new residents to the area Pat has this piece of advice: “Before you head out on our trails, get some advice from qualified instructors who have a variety of horses. I’m passionate about helping people help their horses – and eventually, helping us with our trails. We need help here – there are just a few of us – sometimes just me and a friend – working on these trails. Trail riding is perhaps the most popular sport today for horse people. It’s non-competitive – it’s fun. It works for me – my program is low key and stress free.

“I teach natural body language which eliminates confusion between horse and rider. The biggest example I see of this is people who think that once a horse has gone through a training program, that’s it – he’s trained for life – he’s done. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you don’t do things regularly you lose your expertise – we all need regularly work and reinforcement of learned skills. Regular exercise is the key to solving behavior problems for the horse and the rider. It’s practice, practice and more practice that makes for the perfect pair. I stress precision control over the horse so that the horse/rider pair is safe in all conditions and terrain.”

Pat points out that she has access to some wonderful riding country. “I have the ideal location – horses and humans benefit by learning on trails over soft, rolling hills. Un-level ground helps establish balance and muscle in horse and rider. A horse that’s only been ridden in an arena is not a real safe horse. And you can’t assume that because he’s ‘trained’ he’s finished – he needs to get out and see the world – on a regularly basis.”

Spoken like an experienced world-traveler – like someone who’s been there and done that – and is now comfortable in helping horse people helping their horses. “I don’t show any more – competition seems to bring out the worst in some horses and horse people. It’s been documented that almost all show horses have ulcers – and ulcers come from stress. I avoid stress in my training program. Just the fact that we live in The Land of Enchantment and have access to so many wonderful trails is a stress reliever. My place is located in the historic Fort Selden hills – we can ride the arroyos, the hills – even ride the river bottom in the winter – I have unlimited riding opportunities here – I’m very lucky.”

But never one to just sit and watch the world go by, Pat says she’s now gearing up to take students into the wilderness on short, survival-oriented trips. Last summer she participated in an Outdoors Woman seminar conducted by NM Department of Game and Fish and held at the National Rifle Association’s Whittington Center near Raton, NM. So the ol’ Gentle Tamer has ‘purt near’ gone full circle – from jumping canyons in the Andes as a student – to kindly and gently, introducing horses and horse people to the thrills of wilderness riding – and surviving. Is she herself gentling down? Maybe just a little. When she talks of her wilderness trek in the 70s, she still gets that sparkle in her eyes – but now she’s experienced enough to know such a trip is much more enjoyable and safer if it’s done with more planning and knowledge. And she knows her experiences will help others – help themselves and help their horses. And while that may not be the tame way – it’s the way of the Tamer today – and that’s a good thing – just ask her mother.

To learn more about Pat, her facilities, her program and Lower Rio Grande BCH, you may contact her at 505-525-9334, or: gentletamer1@peoplepc.com.