New Year Gallops In Garwood Riders Take New Year’s Day By The Reins After Saddling Up To The Bar

At the Garwood Saloon, the new year hasn’t been properly ushered in until the parking lot is littered with horse droppings.

The little land mines are a sign the annual New Year’s Day ride is under way.

It’s a tradition that involves a passel of horses, plenty of cowboys and cowgirls and a generous helping of good spirits - both liquid and other. And on occasion, it means a horse may join his rider in the bar for a drink.

At the Garwood Saloon, they rustle in the new year the Wild West way.

Brian Burrow of Athol spent three hours digging his horse trailer out of the snow so he could join Wednesday’s revelry.

“It’s the New Year’s Day ride,” he said. “You couldn’t ask for better times.”

On Wednesday, 50 or so horses plus a dog or two left their mark on the saloon parking lot. They whinnied, snorted and pawed at the ground in anticipation.

Inside the bar, their riders tossed back a beer or two or three in preparation. Some sported chaps and spurs, others exchanged cowboy hats for warmer stocking caps.

Here, this horseback ride is as synonymous with the new year in Garwood as the Times Square ball is in New York. Horses and cowboys converge on the small saloon in a scene that would be straight out of an old Western movie if weren’t for the pickup trucks and horse trailers.

After swapping stories and horse compliments this modern-day posse takes a 4-mile tour through the wooded back roads of northern Kootenai County. Although weather turned away many people this year, riders have braved the worst of Mother Nature.

“We’ve been on it when it’s been 10 or 15 degrees below zero,” said Suey Magnus,, from atop her horse.

“Sometimes you have so many clothes on you can’t even move,” Lori Groover said Wednesday, as she warmed the bit for her horse Cody by the saloon fire. “There’s times I’ve even went with electric socks.”

On Wednesday, a few riders prepared for the cold. One stashed beers in his riding bag while another took a nip from a bottle of peppermint schnapps.

As part of the tradition, some riders are allowed to trot their steeds into the bar where the riders - not the horses - are served a slug of beer or whiskey.

Groover, who has ridden the New Years tour for a decade, remembers one mule sitting down on the floor and refusing to leave.

On Wednesday, the traditional ride into the bar had to be canceled because icy conditions made it too dangerous.

Earl Magnus, a longtime horseman, and his two sons started the New Year’s ride in the 1950s with a small group of family and friends.

Few people lived in the area back then and there were even fewer things to do on New Year’s Day. So the family rode from their home to the Garwood Saloon to pass the time.

“It started out of sheer boredom,” Magnus said as horses swirled and stomped around him.

The event really began kicking in the 1970s. More people joined every year. Riders would make their way from home to home, stopping to wish people a Happy New Year.

Cowpokes were known to ride into the Garwood Saloon and shoot pool from atop their steeds. Later in the evening, folks ended up back at the Magnus home for an all-night poker game.

“Two days later I was still trying to get people out of my yard,” Magnus said. “People started trucking in horses from all over the country. I had no idea it would get that big.”

Although there is no more horse-top pool games, more than 300 people have shown up for the ride in recent years.

For those who love horse riding, the event is not to be missed.

“It’s an excuse to get the horses out and shake the dust off,” said Bob McMurray, who has attended the ride since the early 1970s.

“The thing I love the most is you get to see people you don’t get to see all year,” Groover said.

And after the New Year has been properly greeted in Garwood, there is a warm saloon and live band to greet the riders.

“They come back and dance - them that can still walk,” Suey Magnus said.

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