This is the story of a man who gives up a comfortable life to follow his dream. The timeframe for this tale is during a turbulent decade-the 1960's. It was late in the evening during the fall of 1958 when Dick Elder placed a call to two friends…Jim Dodson and George Horton. He asked them to come over to the Northeast Ohio Equine Institute and give him and Dr. Vasko a hand getting a horse on which they had just operated into the recovery stall. Later that evening at the Horton home, Dick and his friends talked about leaving Ohio, quitting their jobs and comfortable lifestyle to go out west and buy a dude ranch. Dick had been to a dude ranch several times and concluded that being a dude ranch owner would be the perfect lifestyle. His failing marriage, the resulting infidelity, his lack of enthusiasm for his job and his passion for training and showing horses led him to believe that he could never be truly happy unless his life took a completely new direction with horses playing a major part. That evening the boys stood around a table studying a map of the western United States. Where would be a great place for a dude ranch? Jim put a finger on the map and said, "How about here where these four states come together?" Elder asked, "What's the name of that town you have your finger on?" Jim removed his finger and said, "Durango. Durango, Colorado." None of them had ever heard of it. During the year that followed, the idea of starting a new life blossomed into something more….much more!
