As I drive toward the Sunriver Stables on a warm, late summer morning, my mind wanders back to when I was little and used to ride. My family had two horses, Gypsy and Sunny. Their pasture was a large portion of our property, and it backed up to an endless expanse of government land where we could ride for miles, exploring new trails every time we ventured out in the saddle.

It’s hard for me to admit that I haven’t been on a horse since I moved to Central Oregon more than 12 years ago. Especially since I live just outside of Sunriver, less than a 15-minute drive to the stables where 80 horses roam and run.

When I see the dust flying up ahead, my feeling of nostalgia intensifies, and I can’t help but smile as I watch a powerful brown and white beauty gallop in wide circles around a trainer clad in jeans and a pink hoody. With a wave of her arm and a slight pull to the rope the woman easily coaxes the animal into changing directions. The horse resumes his gallop, mane and tail flying.

Satisfied, the trainer slows the horse and guides him in. His nostrils flare as he blows a deep breath out and leans lovingly into his trainer’s hand. She strokes his neck and ruffles his bangs.

In the pasture just beyond the coral, a group of people are settling into polished leather saddles and gently gripping their reins as they’ve been shown. The horses all stand calm and knowing, as they await the first trail ride of the day.

Nervous smiles reveal that at least a few of the people out for a trail ride today have never been on a horse; or maybe it’s just been a long time. I wonder if I’d be nervous, too.

For some of the riders, a horseback ride is nothing new. But in Sunriver, it’s still something special. Here, where the feeling of the wild West still permeates the land; where the river has carved through ancient volcanic rock and cuts through the forest. Here, beneath an expansive blue sky framed by endless distant buttes and the snow-capped Cascades towering just beyond. Here, where once upon a time herds of wild horses roamed the land, where cowboys worked with their horses always by their sides.

“The stables offer a feeling of living history,” said Jon Russell, who owns the stables with his wife, Jackie. “This is an exposure to a lifestyle that is no more. It’s a connection with ranch life, with what life was like when this was the Vandervert Ranch.”

The ranch, which is now the Sunriver Stables, was built in the late 1960s, and though some aspects have changed, it’s still a working horse ranch. And it’s the horses that really make it what it is.

“From early in the morning until the very end of the day, people come out just to see and visit with the horses,” Jackie said. “They just seem to make them happy.”

“Horses inspire an emotive response in people,” Jon agreed. “People get to see the horses just being horses for most of the day. For social and safety reasons, horses are naturally herd animals, and out here the pastures allow for that.”

But all of the 80 horses are also considered co-workers by the Russells and their 30 other employees. The guides and wranglers all call them by name and recognize their individual and distinct personalities and moods.

“They all have friends, and they all have a job,” Jon explained, nodding toward the loading zone where about 12 excited people of all ages sit anxiously, ready to head out.

A smile spreads across Jackie’s face, revealing her raw affection for her life here.

“We always remind people that these are still horses, and that they absolutely have minds of their own,” she said. “Because of that, too, it takes a special type of person to guide — they have to be good with people but also good with horses.”

Behind her, two young guides lead my boys around on a pony ride, chatting happily with them about their summer adventures, already embodying the very trait Jackie’s describing.

The pony rides here are often children’s first exposure to horses. It’s an experience Jackie says is as much for the parents as for the kids.

“The parents are always standing at the fence encouraging their kids, and congratulating them on their first pony ride,” Jackie said.

“They see it as an accomplishment,” she added. “And it’s fun for us because we get to see kids grow up — they come here as children and have their first pony ride, and then fast forward and they’re back and going out on a trail ride.”

Trail rides seem to be something people are drawn to as a family — it’s something they like to do together and is often multigenerational, with grandparents, parents and kids all sharing in the adventure.

Horses can take riders just about anywhere, and around Sunriver the diverse landscape enhances the adventure.

“You can ride everything from the desert to the high alpine around here,” Jon said. “There are so many beautiful options.”

The trail options are one of Peggy Bauer’s favorite things about coming to Sunriver with her daughter and their horses, something she’s been doing for more than 20 years.

The women usually come for a week at a time, boarding their horses at the stables and riding sometimes right from the trails within Sunriver and other times hauling out to other areas.

“I have my favorite places,” Bauer said with a hint of secrecy in her voice.

From the stables, across Cardinal Bridge, the land opens up with logging roads and single track trails.

“I just follow my nose,” she said, but the notion is about more than just finding her way. “The smells change as you go because the types of trees and bushes change with the elevation.”

Other places around the area offer even more adventure.

“Green Lakes is probably one of the most beautiful places you can go,” Bauer said. She also enjoys the ride from Quinn Meadow out to Todd Lake, and the trails up to Paulina Lake from Ogden Group Camp further south.

“You can just go all over,” she said. “A lot of people think you can’t bring your horses because of all the activity around Sunriver, but it’s actually great training — sometimes it saves your bacon because you are out riding somewhere and a helicopter flies over, but your horse is just like, ‘uh, yeah, I’ve seen that.’ They don’t spook.”

Certainly there’s a lot of activity in Sunriver, a lot of motion and noise the horses seem to be accustomed to. But despite the airplanes and helicopters, the cyclists and runners, this place somehow still feels like a step back in time.

As I help my boys down from their ponies, their eyes twinkling above huge grins as they reach out to give the ponies a thankful stroke, I know that they have that same love as I did as a kid.

And I know, without a doubt, that this isn’t the last time we’ll find our way out to visit the horses in Sunriver.