Pamela Galbreath has published a new book titled “In the Scent of Horses, Hay and Old Barns: The Story of Eleanor Prince-Intrepid American Horsemanship Educator.” The biography is set in southeast Wyoming. Wyoming Public Radio’s Grady Kirkpatrick spoke with Galbreath about the book.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
Pamela Galbreath: The inspiration for writing the book was Eleanor Prince, and her story and her abilities and strengths coming from the East in a rather elite, comfortable setting, and coming to Wyoming because she is so interested in getting horses and making a life of horses.
The story was just so moving to me. That's how I latched onto her and decided to write this book, her biography.
Grady Kirkpatrick: Tell us about Ellie's background, where she grew up in Boston, and how she started her love of horses.
PG: She started her love of horses on pretty much the first page of the book. Very briefly, she was four years old, visiting with her family, and she wandered off to a buggy. There was a horse that was well-known for being cantankerous [and] for bucking. And when her parents found her finally, she was underneath the horse, right by his hooves. The horse was calm, and she was calm.
It was in her blood. She just loved horses. She borrowed horses, and she used that term a lot when she was visiting her grandfather in New Hampshire. When she was in college, she read every book she could find in the bookstores, at [the] college library.
She came to Wyoming in 1956 and rented what she called a small cabin, loved that little cabin, just directly below, or at the base of, Jelm Mountain. [She] found horses by asking people if their very ill horse, their very sickly horse, their malnourished horse, that they were going to part with, if she could buy the horse. She had hardly any money; she came out with very little. And she bought those horses and started working with them and training them and just doing everything with them. And then she met up with a lot of military who were stationed here, and they had children, and all the children wanted to learn to ride horses. So Ellie said, "I can do that."
GK: Oh, yeah, boy, could she.
PG: Could she ever. And so she took this small group of women, almost all of them I was able to interview, and taught them how to ride horses for real.
GK: Talk a little bit about Ellie's approach to horsemanship, and it was far beyond just riding.
PG: It was. Ellie believed in total communication between horse and rider. She believed that if you just got on a horse and went, you were not riding because the horse was not in any kind of connection with you. She had a term that I don't know how many times it is mentioned in the book called “ground up,” which meant that she wanted her riders to get to know their horse that they were going to be riding, whether they were in a class or they had bought a horse. They had to work with that horse, checking its teeth. I didn't know you could put your hand in a horse's mouth and survive, but she taught that. Saddling, bridling came after, currying the horse, working with the horse, checking the horse all around, loving the horse, petting the horse, all of this on the ground work. Some people would probably get very tired of that, but she insisted that you didn't know your horse until you did that.
GK: Along with her work on the ranch, she supplemented her income by teaching at Harmony Elementary School between Laramie and Jelm. That was, I guess, the late '50s, and she certainly had a knack for teaching and inspiring her students.
PG: She did. As she said to me when we were talking one day, "You know, teaching is no different from riding a horse." And as a teacher myself, I somewhat agreed with her, because you have to know your pupils so well. You have to know what encourages them, what triggers them, how they work. Because she was an artist, and she would watch a student trying to draw, perhaps a horse, and she would see that the student was coming at it from this angle, when maybe this angle might be a little easier. So she was a born teacher because of her born ability to work with horses. She had a number of students who just adored her. I have met some of those students, and they corroborate that they thought she was the greatest.
GK: I expect a lot of folks would be interested in this story, especially people who love horses, those who appreciate ranching in the West, and people living in southeast Wyoming. It really provides an interesting historical perspective on this part of the state, beginning in the late '50s and right on up to the first part of the 21st century. But I think the story is pretty universal.
PG: It is universal. And, interestingly, Ellie had students from every state in the Union, except, for some strange reason, Arkansas. She also had a woman who came over from the Hawaiian Islands. She had a woman who came from the UK. I talk mainly about women, but she had men who came from various places to take lessons from her. So it's really a larger than Wyoming story for everyone.
GK: She became renowned in horsemanship nationwide.
PG: She did. She really did. She had three books that she published. The first one was on basic horsemanship. The other two books dealt with everything from breeding to learning how to take care of your saddle. Those books, published by Simon & Schuster, were all over.
GK: What do you think Eleanor Prince's legacy and impact was over the years?
PG: I think her legacy is her personality. She could blend with anyone. She could blend in any situation. She was a remarkable, strong, amazing woman. I believe her story deserves a place in Wyoming's history. I think her legacy, as well, in a more narrow approach, is that she was able to combine dressage riding, which some people call [the] ballet of horses, cavalry, Western, Eastern, and help riders be able to use all of those or just one of those. But she was not just an English rider. She was all of these, and she also helped others if they wanted to breed horses. She was a good businesswoman in so many ways, and has, I think, given Wyoming so very much.
