HORSING AROUND: Downtown carriage rides prove popular with residents

Published 7:00 am Thursday, December 24, 2020

Earlier this year, Stan Smith had the idea to ask the City of Athens if he could use his horse and buggy to take people on carriage rides from The Square around downtown Athens. He received approval in late October, and he and his new business have been off to the races ever since.

Smith said his new venture, Wild Hearts Cowboy Carriage Rides, has been booked up for “as many rides as I want to do” this holiday season.

“It’s doing well above my expectations,” Smith said. “People are enjoying it. I have been playing Christmas music in the carriage and taking people to see the lights around downtown and Christmas trees in the park. There’s been so much enjoyment watching (riders).”

Smith said one of the coolest things about his recent trips around downtown is having families come out to shout “Merry Christmas” to those riding in his carriage. While those riding in the buggy are enjoying the trips, Smith said he has gotten a lot out of the venture as well, especially this close to Christmas.

“I lost my only biological daughter in 2011, and this has been the first Christmas I have enjoyed since then,” he said. “I have gotten to see Christmas through so many people’s eyes on these rides.”

Smith said, for the most part, traffic has treated him well on his trips. He said he has tried to wave a vehicle around more than once, just to turn around and find the people inside are taking videos and pictures.

One resident even told Smith he and his carriage rides are turning Athens into a “Hallmark town.”

Horse in front of the cart

Smith said one of the most common questions he gets on these rides is the name of his horse. His faithful steed is a mare named “U” that Smith has owned for four years.

“Once they find out the horse is named U, that usually gives me a chance to give a little testimonial on her,” Smith said.

Smith tells riders that U stands for “unwanted” or “undesirable.” He first began training the horse as part of a program called a “mustang makeover,” in which breeders around the country are paired with wild horses and given 120 days to train them before taking part in multiple events.

“All mustangs (in the program) are branded with a serial number,” Smith said. “She had been to a few adoption events and no one adopted her, so she was branded with a ‘U’ — unadoptable, unwanted.”

Smith said he has done 15 mustang makeovers. Horses are drawn for each trainer in the program, so it was happenstance for him to be paired with a horse branded with a U.

Once the competition is over, the horses are auctioned off. Smith said if trainers want to purchase the horse they were paired with, they get to do so at half price.

“So, I bought her,” he said.

Smith said he had used a cart as part of his performance during the event, so he began training U to pull a carriage in the hopes of eventually taking people on rides.

“She is getting better and better,” he said. “I have been to talk to several youth groups with her. All teenagers at some point feel unwanted, but I can tell them to look at her. She was even branded unwanted.”

U has even been on television before. Smith said he has a friend who casts animals for TV, and U was in a commercial for Powerball in South Carolina as well as being a backup on four or five movies.

“She had been four months out of the wild when we did the commercial,” he said. “It’s pretty cool.”

Smith said sometimes he almost tears up when telling his passengers the story of how he came to own U and her journey from wild mustang to taking passengers around downtown.

“For me to get to ride my horse around downtown Athens, where I was raised, is outstanding,” Smith said. “I love getting to see the smiles on people’s faces. I love having little children want to come up and pet the horse. It’s so heartwarming.”

Smith said he will continue doing a full slate of carriage rides through the New Year’s holiday, but he plans to scale back during January and February, depending on the weather.

Call Smith at 256-777-9379 for more information or to book a time for a carriage ride.

“This has been a great event for during COVID,” he said. “You usually only have family members on the buggy, and it’s outdoors.”