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Even a worldwide pandemic can’t divert Maggie Dale of Iowa City from pursuing her unique lifelong dream — to someday own and operate a commercial horse stable.

Her college peers might be pondering medicine, computers, teaching or engineering. Maggie’s finals last week dealt with techniques on grooming fetlocks for a horse show and the dangers of handling a stallion for breeding.

If you are seeking a degree in Equestrian Business Management from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, this is what you learn.

“Ever since I pretty much knew what a horse was, I was in love with them,” Maggie says.

She took her first riding lesson at age six and got her first and only horse so far, Chaco, at age 12. Horses are expensive, but family members saw the writing on the wall and pooled their resources to make it happen.

Sadly, Maggie’s dad died from injuries in a car accident three years later.

The family lived at Sutliff and boarded her American Paint Horse near Mt. Vernon while Maggie and Chaco racked up horse show trophies and honors throughout the state and beyond.

That eventually included grand championships in the Senior Ranch Horse division two years in a row at the Iowa State Fair, plus three reserve champion titles last year at the Pinto World Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Local and county horse clubs have honored her with their “queen” titles, and she was a finalist four years running for the Iowa State Fair Cowgirl Queen Contest. The honor is based on presentation, horsemanship and a candidate’s knowledge of the equine industry.

Among her several scholarships to Stephens College is a $10,000 award from the Iowa 4-H Foundation. Her photo-packed Instagram accounts have more than 33,000 followers.

Maggie has worked hard from the day she first took ownership of her American Paint Horse gelding, purchased from a stable near Pella.

“Chaco was not a show horse when I got him,” she said. “He was 12 years old, bucked a lot and didn’t know how to neck rein. He was a hot mess, and neither one of us really knew what we were doing.”

But they learned together, she said, and two years down the road, they started to bring home ribbons from horse shows. Maggie was seriously hooked on horses by then and already determined to make that her career.

At one point, she pondered veterinary school at Iowa State, but says she decided against that for two reasons. “I didn’t want to go to school for eight years,” she said, “and I don’t think I could ever put horses down.”

The Stephens equine program was close and respected, offering four disciplines titled Hunt Seat, Western, Saddle Seat and Driving.

She took a year off after graduating from high school at Mount Vernon and worked at Theisen’s in Coralville to build up her college nest egg. She entered Stephens last fall as a freshman and is acing her classes.

During the pandemic, she’s been living with her family in Iowa City, finishing classes online and working for family friends at the stable south of Oxford where Chaco currently resides, trading her labor for boarding fees.

It was going to be a summer of offering public riding instruction, but the pandemic squelched that, and she has confined herself to her home and Chaco’s stable.

Maggie plans to resume studies at Stephens again this fall. “You can’t do riding classes online,” she says, “but some professors are able to do some things virtually.”

In the meantime, Chaco is in good shape at age 20. Maggie retired him from the rodeo-type stuff like barrel racing, roping and pole bending two years ago, but she’ll enter horse shows with him for a few more years whenever they resume.

“He’s come so far and so have I,” she says. “He’s approaching his retirement years, but he’ll tell me when he wants to quit.” She says horses generally have a 25 to 35-year lifespan, and she thinks Chaco will be on the high end of that.

Maggie is a realist and does not expect to get rich in the equine industry, but hopes to make a living off her own stable someday by offering horse rentals, training and riding lessons.

“People say that in order to make a small fortune off of horses, you have to have a large fortune,” she quips.

She is not a horse whisperer, but says she can understand her own horse’s needs and moods. “Dogs immediately trust and follow you,” she states. “With horses, you have to gain their respect.”

She thinks it is profound that “you can bond with a half-ton animal that could easily kill you — but they don’t.”

“Chaco is my best friend,” she adds. “I’ve been working myself half to death to afford him. I think there is a special partnership with horses you just don’t get with any other animal.”

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