In The Beginning

When people hear that we have been married for just nine years—even though between us we have 10 grown kids and 24 grandkids—they invariably ask the key question: Where did you meet? Our simple answer: At church—what better place to find a companion with the same beliefs and aspirations!

In 2014, soon after settling together in Alene’s home in Tatum Ranch and boarding Alene’s chestnut Arabian mare, Flames Amber, at a good friend’s stable, we determined that a home on some acreage would better suit our future goals. One day by chance Alene drove by a stylish ranch house on 5 acres in Northeast Scottsdale with a very basic mare motel and arena. Although the horse facilities were rudimentary, she immediately recognized the potential of the house and setting. We quickly bought the property and it became the new home for Alene, Rickard and Amber.

To keep Amber from looking so lonesome and forlorn at our new ranch, Camelot (Cam), a 16-year-old chestnut Arabian gelding, came our way. After a year or so of fixing up our main house, we decided that the horses deserved a real barn for a home (after so many years of boarding in stables) and so our rust-color, corrugated-metal, 2-stall barn was designed and built. The two horses lived peacefully (and generally amiably) for the next few years, but at the old age of 30, Amber passed away—leaving Cam as the sole resident in the arena. Even when our neighbors built a large home with matching barn kitty-corner to our property—and brought in six horses—this still did not completely satisfy Cam, since there was no Amber to rub noses with.

Early in 2019, we came to the conclusion that Cam’s age and unpredictable nature dictated a change and so we sold him to a good home in Apache Junction. At that point we began looking for new blood and different possibilities. Working with a trusted friend and Arabian trainer, we attended the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show and eventually bought not just one, or two, but three new horses—all of them 3- or 4-year-old youngsters.

We now have carefully chosen our Arabian horses for pleasure riding and potential showing. Our last purchase, a beautiful bay mare, is now in foal for the third time and so our foray into the breeding business continues. We recently expanded our barn into a 4-stall set-up with 2 stalls specifically designed for foaling, so we have room for even more residents.

Giving it a great deal of thought, we decided to call our little enterprise Blue Desert Arabians, a bow to the beautiful blue hues that grace the desert skies and distant mountains at sunset. And, the name has significance as that portion of the Sinai Desert where an artist used 10 tons of turquoise stain to paint boulders and outcroppings as a symbol of peace following the 1979 Arab-Israeli treaty that ended 30 years of fighting in that region. So, the name means both beauty and peace to us.

True to our beginnings, we remain a modest farm with cautious expectations and hope for the future. Meanwhile, life is peaceful and good on our small but promising Arabian horse ranch in the middle of the Sonoran Desert!