To say Sueanne Clark was born on horseback is (almost) literally true. “I was six months old in my grandfather’s arms when I got my first ride on a mare named Bonnie,” Sueanne, who runs Wind in Your Hair Riding off I-80 near Wanship, says with a smile.
Melbourne native Sueanne’s adventurous life has taken her from Bangkok, back to Australia (“I married a fighter pilot,” she laughs), to Florida and then Hawaii, “where I lived for twelve years, helping start the Inner Light Center and practicing a meditation technique called Breathwork,” which she helped expand to Santa Fe. A client encouraged her to bring Breathwork here, “but Utah was not in my plans. He said, ‘Let me show you the only place to live.’ We drove to Park City, and I was so impressed.”
As a Utah single mom teaching Breathwork in the late ’80s, Sueanne reconnected with horses as a trainer with AZ Richards, Utah’s first Pasos Finos breeder. His family planned to sell his horses upon his retirement, “and I couldn’t let that happen,” Sueanne recalls. She borrowed enough to buy seven, “all siblings I had raised from foals,” and started Wind in Your Hair in 1997. “I cried myself to sleep as a little girl because my parents wouldn’t buy me a horse. It took forty-seven years for God to answer my prayers,” she chuckles. Today, her herd of ten has their own “Meet the Horses” section on windinyourhair.com.
“I’ve been teaching for 33 years, from being safe and in control with horses to speaking their language” she smiles. Sueanne offers beginner horsemanship lessons but takes only experienced riders on the miles of Wind in Your Hair trails. “My horses are gaited, incredibly smooth, and fun to ride,” she says.
It is no surprise that Sueanne’s unique riding experience is in great demand, so “book as far in advance as possible!” she smiles.