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Celebrating Fifty Years Of Hoof Beats In Downtown Bristol

photo provided Juna Perlee rides Rosealee, a registered American Saddlebred and Palomino at a local horse show.

photo provided This 1956 photograph shows the Bristol Riding Club with Juna on Regal in the lead, riding on what are now Mt. Abraham high school fields.

Tuesday June 2, 2009

By Cookie Steponaitis

    Sharing memories with horse trainers Lynda Malzac and Juna Perlee is a tour into the history and commitment to equines in Addison County. It also reflects the determination of one woman whose efforts have transcended generations of horse enthusiasts. When you sit down with trainer Lynda Malzac in her home in Bristol you are surrounded with photographs, paintings and mementos of special horses that have been a part of her life since early childhood. Lynda sat on her first horse at two and realizes, “I was too young to really know, but I recall the smell of leather, horse and looking out at the world between the ears of a horse. My life was never the same since.” Since Lynda was not born into a horse family she used to ride a horse belonging to a friend of her mother and even in first grade remembers proudly announcing to her first grade class that she was going to be a horse trainer when she grew up.  While she was correct, Lynda was not to know at age eight that her path would cross with Juna Perlee and her love affair with horses would take on new meaning and direction.

    While Lynda is an accomplished horse trainer who has worked with some of the finest horses and trainers in the field, she credits that summer at age eight for being the turning point in her life. “I met Juna Perlee when I was eight years old, just after my father had passed away. I cleaned stalls, brushed horses and just followed her around and watched. I grew up with Juna as my mentor and as a result was given the opportunity to ride and train a wide spectrum of horses. People used to bring to Juna the horses that no one could do anything with and she would work her magic. I watched, I learned and eventually I worked along side her.”

    Lynda’s own career has included a ten year stint at the UVM Morgan Horse Farm as a horse specialist and her own training business based in Bristol since 1980.  Training one-four horses a year and working with 4H programs and riders, Lynda has been able to convey her passion for horses and the skills she learned from Juna to the next generation. “While there are many ways to train horses,” she remarked, “it stems from the same place. You establish yourself as the leader and you establish a trust and link between the horse and yourself. You use consistency, patience, fairness and a firm but gentle hand to build the trust and the relationship. Each horse brings to you something new and each teaches you in return. My first ponies taught me determination as I got dumped off more than I stayed on.  A gelding named Sergeant Pepper was my first high spirited ride and he taught me that riding was not push button or remote control. Most important, they taught me horses match us in spirit and devotion.”

    While giving credit to the people who were responsible for her growth and development in each phase of her career, Lynda returns with pride and thankfulness to being one of “Juna’s girls” and after sitting down with the eighty-nine year old equestrian, it is easy to see where the mixture of love and reverence comes from. Born on July 4, 1920, Juna is of petite stature, but with blue eyes that pierce you and an energy and wit that are legendary. To this day she eats, sleeps and breathes horses and it shows.  Juna moved to Bristol in 1952 with her children when her husband Henry was called up for World War II in order to be closer to her mother and sister.  Juna’s first exposure to horses was on the farm as a child. “I used to pretend I was a horse,” she remarked and then chuckled, “and as a little girl I would run up and down the rows of corn stretching and pawing the earth. Even then I appreciated their power and spirit. When I was about eight, I used to drive the team of horses to the creamery about 1-2 miles away. I knew then that my future was tied to horses. I wanted badly to be a trainer, but in the Depression era that was not heard of and certainly not for a woman. I won some prize money at the fair and sent $18.00 away for a correspondence course in horse training from Jessy Berry who was the top in the country at the time. It came and I could hardly wait. I learned and I learned quick.”

    While her husband Henry appreciated her love of horses, he was much more of a gardener and wanted the land they owned committed to a big garden. At first, Juna had a small ring and a converted chicken coup in her yard in Bristol for her animals that provided a place to train them. She had one particularly special mare named Pandora, who was worth over $ 1500.00. One evening her husband told her if she could sell that horse for over a thousand, he would build her a barn. Within days Juna had her cash and Henry began her barn. The rest, as they say in Bristol, is the beginning of hoof beats on town streets.

    While Juna and her children rode in the yard and across the road, there was
nowhere for the horses to be ridden and in 1952 she approached the town select board and got permission to build a ring on town land near what was at that time an old airport. “That ring cost us $ 150.00,” Juna remembered, “and we dug each post hole by hand. We were so worried that we would never be able to pay for it when the bill came due, but we made the money back in our first horse show.” What began that year became known as the Bristol Riding Club ushering in an era where the sound of hoof beats would become a event and the town of Bristol would increase in size every fall and spring with people coming from all over the state for horse shows.  The October 5, 1956 Burlington Free Press headline documented the 1000 people turned out in Bristol, Vermont for the spring horse show. By 1958, Juna and her programs were a household name in Bristol and around the state.

    “Horses were recreation, transportation and occasionally my doctor and psychiatrist,” joked Juna. “There were about thirty horses in the village then,” she went on to say, “and I started the Bristol Riding Club so we had a place and a purpose for gathering to ride and to learn. It was always about safety, knowledge and a passion for horses and what they can teach us. I had a vision of this ring, a club and saw no reason why we couldn’t have it, so I went for it.”

    Training horses at her home in a small ring Juna is the first to point out that all horses need the basics in order to be safe. “You start with the bottom skills,” she reflected. “From me they learned walk, trot, canter and whoa. I used voice commands with all of my animals. In an emergency, being able to holler whoa and have the horse stop can save your life.” Lynda quickly shared a story of this reality as a testament to Juna’s training skills. “We were at a horse show and there were six horses in the ring, all of whom had been trained by Juna. One horse began to really act up and from outside the ring, Juna’s voice rang in with a stern ‘Whoa.’ Every horse in the arena came to a dead stop and would not move. Some had not seen her as a trainer for several years, but still they remembered and stopped, even with riders on them.”

    While photographs and trophies adorn her home and walls, Juna still goes out to the barn every day when Lynda comes to work with her latest horses and offers the advice of one born to train and work with horses. “ If a horse has a confidence in you, then you can work together to achieve great things. It all takes time, you know, it takes time.”  Five of her own children and over one hundred of Juna’s students later, Juna sits back with pride as the next generation carries on her legacy of training excellence, caring and active participation with the youth of Addison County. Whether in parades, show rings, or in the work of protégées like Lynda Malzac the impact of one woman on a town and horses lives on in each hoof beat and each new partnership between a person and a horse, starting out on a life long journey of adventure and companionship.

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