Hanging Valley Ranch is a 55 acre ranch located between Carbondale and Redstone, CO, We are sitting on a bench on Sopris Mountain.

      Our first two Icelandic horses arrived at Hanging Valley Ranch in the summer of 2000. One of them, and her offspring, are now being used at Sopris Therapy Services, an organization that uses horses to help the disabled improve their outlook on life and improve their fine and gross motor skills. Because of the Icelandic horse’s kind and gentle nature they are a favorite of the therapists.

        We have now increased our herd to 15 that includes our four trail horses, four First Prize mares (two  are pregnant) , seven young horses from 84 months to 5 years, and three horses in Kentucky being trained by Gudmar Petursson.

           In 2007 we started a breeding program with the help of Gudmar Petursson who holds the second highest number of Icelandic championship titles ever. His is also a certified FT competition trainer, and, as a B instructor, he has earned the highest degree awarded by Holar University.

           We brought over three First Prize mares from Iceland to breed with First Prize stallions in the US. Using Icelandic experts here in the states we tried to choose the best stallions for our mares. Our goal is to help improve the Icelandic breed in the US and we are off to a great start.

           In August 2010, Barbara Frische, a national breeding judge since 1988 and who has judged the last five World Championships, visited our ranch to evaluate our five young horses. Three of the five attained First Prize ratings with the other two very close behind. In addition, Maidis, our 4 month old was judged as the "Best Young Icelandic Horse" in the US this year. See “About our Horses” for more information on each horse.