King-Size Horses Carry Riders To Majestic Views Stevens County Stable Specializes In Tough, Gentle Draft Horses

Spend a couple of hours at the Lake Roosevelt Riding Stable and you’ll understand why people talk about things being “as big as a horse.”

This stable, one of only a handful in northeastern Washington, specializes in king-size horses.

The draft horses that carry even the heftiest riders to panoramic views of Lake Roosevelt are descended from those that once carried kings and knights into combat.

Unhorsed in battle, King Richard III is said to have offered his kingdom for one of these 1,800- to 2,400-pound behemoths.

“King Henry and all those guys, instead of dealing with tanks, they were dealing with horses,” stable co-owner Gerry Petitjean said. “They were the king’s tanks.”

Riders who want to get into the fantasy may don riding helmets bearing the names of famous knights of the Round Table. Few do, though.

Perhaps it’s because of the bad end so many of King Arthur’s knights met. More likely, it’s because these big horses are as gentle as they are strong.

“The main reason we use the draft horses for the trail riding is they’re docile,” said Kelly Petitjean, who has been in the horse business since age 6.

The other reason, she said, is that they have “enough leg” for the 1,000-foot vertical climb to the ridgeline on their 116-acre ranch near Rice, a dozen miles southwest of Kettle Falls. The climb affords numerous postcard views of Lake Roosevelt during trail rides that range from a half-hour to two hours.

Gerry Petitjean said he bulldozed trails up to 3-1/2 miles long to inspire confidence among riders more than because the horses needed any help.

The biggest of these big horses is Fauvel, a Shire named for King Richard Lion-Heart’s war horse. Riding Fauvel is like … “Like riding a picnic table,” Gerry Petitjean suggested.

At any rate, no one who has ridden Fauvel need wonder why old cowboys are bowlegged.

Fauvel, a 13-year-old veteran, carried the guest of honor on a recent trail ride after a big 3-year-old Belgian named Paladen got a little too talkative with his mother.

The encounter seemed like a hornblowing contest between two 18-wheelers face to face on a one-lane road. Actually, though, it was a discussion about breaking a couple of Paladen’s siblings out of the corral where they were being weaned, Kelly Petitjean said.

“You wouldn’t think something that big would still miss his mother, would you?” said Chris Skeen, a neighbor who rides regularly at the Petitjean stable with his family. The ride proceeded with Kelly Petitjean atop the chastened Paladen.

Along the way, Fauvel munched just about every thistle on the path and some that were a stretch. “A Shire’s capacity to work is exceeded only by its capacity to eat,” Petitjean said.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Skeen, following on a Percheron named Durango, offered other helpful commentaries.

“That’s what you call a band on the road,” she explained when Fauvel rumbled like distant thunder. “Fauvel, how much chili did you eat today?”

Skeen has been taking lessons from Kelly Petitjean since July because she wants to buy a Peruvian Paso Morgan from the Petitjeans. That’s a “hotter,” or more temperamental, horse than the ones the stable ordinarily uses for trail rides.

“It sounds kind of strange, but I patted him and Kelly let me sit on him and he just jumped out of his wits and I fell off,” Elizabeth said. “I always liked the really hot horses.” It was love at first sight, but Elizabeth’s mother, Teresa, insisted she take lessons to make sure she can control the horse.

Teresa Skeen already has a Belgian from the Petitjeans, and her husband is buying a Percheron named Knight.

“The one I call Goliath,” Elizabeth said.

It’s a happy coincidence, Gerry Petitjean said, that the trail riding business goes hand in hand with selling horses. “People come and ride the horses and like them and want to buy them.”

The riding lessons Kelly Petitjean gives are another important part of the Lake Roosevelt Riding Stable. The couple plan to build an outdoor teaching arena by next fall.

First, though, they want to move their mobile home nearer the stable parking lot so they don’t miss customers who drop in for a ride after spotting the stable’s highway signs.

Winter doesn’t close the stable. Gerry, the family blacksmith, removes the horses’ shoes to improve traction in the snow and scaled-down rides continue.

A machinist who used to run a small sawmill with his brother at Fall City in the Washington Cascades, Gerry works as a maintenance man at the Colville McDonald’s while Kelly manages what is now the third stable of her career.

She and Gerry met when he came to her stable at Granite Falls, north of Seattle. They married five years ago and came here a year later.

“A riding stable was the furthest thing from my mind when we came over here, but I found out I was expecting Levi,” Kelly Petitjean said. “So I decided to start up another riding stable so I wouldn’t have to go out to work.”

Levi, now 3, tags along on almost all the rides his parents conduct - either doubled up with one of them or strapped onto his favorite horse, Bard.

That’s not surprising, considering that his parents got married on horseback.

If they’d had Fauvel at the time, they could have gotten a whole wedding party on the same horse.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DRAFT HORSE SHOW Sandpoint hosts one of the largest draft horse shows in the country, drawing thousands of people and 350 horses. The show runs Oct. 3-5 at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. About 100 horses and mules will also be sold at auction Oct. 6.