Marietta Roby discovered horses at age 4, when she was put on a neighbor’s pony to have her picture taken. From then on she never stopped pestering her parents for a horse of her own. Her parents, who had no desire to own horses, procrastinated until her seventh birthday, then bought one of the orneriest ponies that could be found, perhaps in hopes of curing her of her affliction. This tactic did not work.
With a few brief interruptions, Marietta has always supported at least one equine, then Rob came along and with the advent of a second income, their horse population increased rapidly. They spent several years buying and training fixer-uppers they bought at the local livestock auction, and learning everything they could about problem horses. In 1994, the Robys adopted their first two BLM mustangs and were forever hooked. They also discovered Natural Horsemanship at around the same time, and found that it works really well with mustangs. They have since had opportunities to learn from such horsemanship giants as Ray Hunt, Linda Tellington-Jones, Bryan Neubert, and Buck Brannaman.
The family lives in Crooked River Ranch and includes two kids, eight formerly-wild horses, three dogs, and five cats…all adopted. The Roby’s use their horses for trail riding, hunting/packing, lessons, shows, and anything else that looks like fun. Marietta and her mustangs hold several Championship titles in In Hand Trail, Huntseat, Stockseat, and Drill. In the “down” time, they do demonstrations of mustang versatility, tricks, and bridleless riding. Marietta holds judge’s certifications from OHSET and WLRCA, judging Open Shows, High School Equestrian, and Drill. She is working on several other certifications as well.