The Story Behind the "M"

The "M" is 620 feet above the Missoula Valley floor. It is 125' feet long and 100' feet wide. University of Montana forestry students cut the switchbacks into the side of the hill in the early 1900's. The first "M" was assembled out of whitewashed rocks in 1909, and given a fresh coat of paint by freshmen every year, until 1968, when all those rocks were cemented together with concrete.

Photo by Nelson Kenter, kenterphotography.com

Posts Tagged ‘Horse Around Missoula’

How To Thank A Horse

By DANIELLE LATTUGA - How do you thank a horse? It depends on the horse. That’s the first thing you should know. I thank Smoke every day we are together.... more

Horse Friends – When Friendships are Born of Horses

By SUZANNE MILLER - Friendships among horse aficionados can be very different from those centered on other endeavors. Horses intensify just about everything.... more

Real Cowgirls Wear Sports Bras

By DANIELLE LATTUGA. Okay, so I am less a cow-girl and more a horse-woman but that’s not my point. Usually, I am in a rush when I’ve got to pack up all the stuff I will need or might need on a horseback ri... more

A Professionally Nice Horsewoman

By SUZANNE MILLER. Professionally nice is the term my husband uses to describe my good friend, Jean Larson. She is after all, an ordained minister and pastor. She is supposed to be nice.... more

When a Horse Likes to Move

By DANIELLE LATTUGA.In the last year with this horse, I’ve seen glimmers of connection. Little bright shining moments where we are working together perfectly in sync, or times when we stand shoulder to should... more

Driving Miss Dixie – and the Art of Towing a Trailer

By SUZANNE MILLER. My love affair with Miss Dixie, my Chevy Silverado 2500HD Duramax diesel pickup with an Allison towing transmission, took me completely by surprise. I am not a motor head. For most of my lif... more

Artistic Horse Photography: When Memories & Art Become One

By SUZANNE MILLER. I thought I knew all there was to know about the features of my horse, Power. Yet, the mere act of holding a camera and trying to capture his character and beauty caused me to see him anew.... more

Horse Connections – Even from Afar

By DANIELLE LATTUGA. I was worried that my horse, Smoke, would forget about me the 10 days I was away. I have come to relish the incremental bits of progress that we make together — each step forward is a tre... more

A Sterling Horse Husband

By SUZANNE MILLER. Being smitten with horses is akin to being plagued with a disease–-a disease of obsession. Like most married horsewomen, this disease called horses has further complicated an already compli... more

Gaited, Not Gated

By DANIELLE LATTUGA. “I don’t do gates, I gait.” I imagine this is just one of the things Smoke would like to tell me while we’re out on the trail. Ideally, he would tell me this in the context of a co... more

Summer Sounds

By SUZANNE MILLER. This year, our vigil for Ozzie and Harriet (The Osprey) was particularly full of anticipation and tension as we had Northwestern Energy install a web camera at Dunrovin Ranch.... more

This Montana Place, Part II

By DANIELLE LATTUGA. My own creativity exists at the interface of the internal and external landscape. My craft is informed by my connection to the natural world, and animal nature. This is an integral part of ... more

This Montana Place

By SUZANNE MILLER. I live in Montana. Vast prairie vistas nurture my senses and my soul. Crisp mountain air fills my heart, as well as my lungs. These mountains with their wide valleys and abundant rivers; thes... more

Off the Ground

By DANIELLE LATTUGA. Perched on Smoke’s back, I realized that all the little steps we took to get there—all the hours spent on the ground—were well worth the effort.... more

A Star is Born

By SUZANNE MILLER. Early last fall, I answered the phone to find an articulate and creative young man, Alex Pollini, on the other end. He earnestly implored me to provide a horse for him to use in a film he was... more

Hard Ground

By DANIELLE LATTUGA. Smoke and I are often less than poetry on six feet. We’re more like a blob of bubble gum stuck to someone’s shoe. Sometimes the poetry comes later, when my body is not beat down, and t... more