It's the kind of place where a gang of jolly farriers pass around a pitcher of beer and debate the pros and cons of heart-bar shoes. It was built in 1887 as a stagecoach stop, and its original character endures. The Brothers Restaurant at Mattei's Tavern, scene of the conversation about the gelding, features Asian-inspired fare and hearty ranch dishes with a nouveau twist. At Jedlicka's Saddlery on Grand Avenue, shoppers peruse everything from numotizine cataplasm poultice to silver belt buckles to girth-itch spray. The Wildling Art Museum, which specializes in American wilderness art, is a hidden jewel worth the short walk off the beaten path. Los Olivos has several galleries that specialize in Western art. After steak and eggs, they may be headed to the shows, clinics or therapeutic riding program at the Santa Ynez Valley Equestrian Association's new 24-acre facility. The Longhorn Coffee Shop serves breakfasts at the break of dawn to regulars who jingle and swoosh in wearing spurs and chaps. Santa Ynez, site of the horseshoe "walk of fame," offers the Santa Ynez Historical Museum and Parks-Janeway Carriage House, which display artifacts from the days when horsepower wasn't just a cute way of saying "fast car." The museum and carriage house include 35 horse-drawn surreys, stagecoaches, buckboards and other horse-drawn vehicles, a blacksmith shop and examples of pioneer-era ranching and riding gear. It's hard to say which valley town is the horsiest. The trainer, all Spanish accent, ponytail and sex appeal, grabbed his wine glass and took another swig. "When I gelded him, he grew so quiet," she said. And at a pub in the pretty wine-and-horses town of Los Olivos, a tall, elegant blond woman lamented an irreversible decision to her trainer. In the town of Santa Ynez, local mounts are memorialized, their shoes lovingly embedded in the central crosswalk like stars on Hollywood Boulevard. In Buellton, the walls of the local Marriott's restaurant are adorned with old racing prints, framed jockey's silks and photos of the hometown megastud, Pirate's Bounty. And when the day is done, the valley's shops, inns and restaurants are suffused with the aura of the horsy life. For visitors, equine activities abound, ranging from trail riding to tours of breeding farms to watching one of the world's most renowned horse-gentlers at work. The Santa Ynez Valley,s home to 34 different horse breeds, is a place rich and lucky enough to have nurtured three Kentucky Derby winners. A verdant California landscape of rolling hills cooled by coastal winds, the valley is famous today as the setting for the movie "Sideways," but what few people know is that it has long been an equestrian paradise. IF racehorses dream of greener pastures, the bucolic Santa Ynez Valley might be exactly what they have in mind.
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