All the Pretty Horses

Down in Arlee at the Stockman, behind the long dark wooden bar, you’ll find a Texas girl who is crazy about horses, fishing, and hunting. Working at the bar is just a part-time gig, her real passion and purpose is going to the World Paint Horse Show in November, which she will train for after qualifying in Monroe, Wash. two weeks ago.

Kelsey Slusser is tall, with kind, blue eyes that reside in color somewhere between green and blue sapphire. She’s got a little twang in her voice; she’ll ask you what you’d like to drink, if you’re hungry, and laugh at your bad jokes. If you’re smart enough to have a conversation with her, you’ll be surprised at the many layers she holds.

Perhaps it’s unusual for a student from Missoula to work in Arlee, but that’s what makes Slusser interesting. She’s more into the style of life Arlee has to offer – clean, wide streets, little riff-raff, absence of Missoula’s hustle and bustle, and one more thing: her horse. Slusser competes and trains for competitions with her Quarter Horse in the American Paint Horse Association (APHA).

The type of horse she rides is part of a line of ancestry starting in 1965 with the merging of two types of breeds. The APHA headquarters are in Ft. Worth, Texas.

She’s been riding since she was very young from a family of outdoorspeople.

“I started fishing with my Dad since I was two,” she said.

The men yak it up down at the Stockman’s Bar, a saloon-type joint with an open layout, cool breezes through the open door. Perhaps there’s one or two old-timers playing pool and taking bets. Perhaps there’s a group of fellows at a table laughing at something only a friendship of 30 years could reveal. Perhaps there’s a little sawdust on the floor, from a friendly and rare scuffle, from some argument long forgotten.

Slusser works behind the bar on most nights and weekends. She works the dayshifts. She not only takes your drink orders, she’ll throw open the fryer and make some good food to eat. She’s easy to laugh and doesn’t BS. But the customers like her, and why shouldn’t they? She’s a good example of the spirit of Montana and Arlee in particular; where life is slower and that’s just the way everybody likes it.

The thing is, she’s not from Montana. She’s from Texas, which explains the slight, gentle twang in her voice. The kind of twang that says she’ll entertain a bad joke and make you feel better about it, but deep down under the surface is a tough Texas gal, as the saying goes.

Oh, and she could probably shoot you under the table, too. She’s a big game hunter and has been on tours with her dad in Africa hunting big game. The game like Ernest Hemingway hunted; the game Teddy Roosevelt hunted. She’s hunted on the plains of Africa, setting her scope on game such as wildebeests and ostriches. It’s an irony that she’s a student at the University of Montana studying to be a big game veterinarian.

“It’s called Wildlife Biology,” she says. “There’s a fancier name, but its just wildlife. Montana has one of the best schools in the country for it.”

In fact, that was the primary reason for Slusser to move to Montana from Fort Worth a little over two years ago. But actually, it’s Arlington, Texas, is where she was born. “It’s a stone’s throw from Fort Worth,” she said.

Growing up, she visited New Mexico and that was when her Dad knew horses had taken their hold on her.

“Ever since then,” she says, “Horses, fishing, and hunting. That’s it.”

For the upcoming World Show in November, Slusser says she’ll be training two or three times a week doing a variety of maneuvers.

“I’ll be working on sliding stops and spins,” she says, among the other types of horse skills.

She’ll be training in the meantime with Missoula horse trainer Patty Cusker to hone her rhythm and performance.

At the competition, judges will access skill, showmanship, and general control of the horse.

For now, she’s perfectly happy living in Arlee, working at the Stockman’s Bar, taking orders, making conversation with locals.

She prefers the beautiful Montana mountains and quiet life in Arlee, where she can be with her horse, and stay away from the kinetic energy of Missoula’s city life. It suits her just fine until school starts back up at the end of August.

“People take care of people here,” she says.

And in the way people take care of each other in Arlee, she takes care of her painted horse, which has an appropriate name.

“Her registered name is ‘Pearls of Whizdom,’” she says. “We call her Pearl.”