Susan Rae has found a way to turn her horse sense into living wages.


She conceived and created Ride the West Horse & Ranch Expo, the Inland Northwests biggest annual event dedicated to horses and the people who love them. Rae organizes the event through her company, Susan Rae Promotions, which is based at her ranch home on Four Mound Prairie in the Seven Mile area northwest of Spokane.


She first began to imagine a local event for horse enthusiasts while she was working in promotions and marketing for KDRK radio in Spokane.


I read an article about Equine Affaire in California and thought at the time, What a dream job that would be, she says. Equine Affaire Inc., based in London, Ohio, holds national exhibitions and trade shows annually in Ohio, Massachusetts, and California that spotlight all things related to horses.


While working for KDRK, she met Richard Shrake, a legendary horse trainer from Sunriver, Ore., who encouraged her to follow her dream.


I left radio in the fall of 2000, and the next day I told my husband I was going to do a horse expo and I never looked back, she says.


From January to May, its more than a full-time job to work out the logistics for the exhibitors, vendors, and performers for Ride the West, she says.


It takes a lot of work and hustle, but when you have your own business, you have to do that, she says.


Her husband, Rick Perrenoud, takes a month away from his home-building business to help her pull off the event.


By showtime, Rae has about 35 people involved; most are friends and family and many are volunteers.


Ricks sister and husband come over from Hawaii and vacation here so they can help with the show, she says. Doing this with people who are important in our lives makes it even better.


Last year, the fifth year of the show, Ride the West began turning a profit, she says.


She declines to disclose the events revenues, but says the expenses to put on the expo are well over $70,000. Revenue from the event is generated about evenly through ticket sales, from vendors, and from sponsors.


Rae, who was raised in the Spokane Valley, believed all along the event would be great for the Spokane-area horse community and could be a profitable venture.


She took advantage of credit cards that offered introductory zero percent interest to finance everything from show supplies to groceries, she says, adding, The first year was a struggle to get people to visualize what I was trying to do.


Shrake signed on as the featured trainer for Raes first horse and ranch exposition.


He and his wife, Lee Ann, helped me get started, she says.


About 2,500 people came to see the inaugural Ride the West exhibition in 2002, which has been held each year since then at the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center.


Last year, about 9,000 people came to the three-day event.


It has grown and expanded every year, Rae says. I would love a gate of 15,000 people or more eventually.


These days, the event features several nationally known trainers and clinicians. This years expo will be held May 18-20 at the Fair & Expo Center.


Other than the horse itself, trainers are the big draw, she says. People want to come and learn and find out new styles and techniques for working with horses.


A main attraction this year will be a team-roping event that will conclude with a 20-team shootout.


Vendors will include sellers of horse tack and services, farm and ranch equipment, Western and work clothes, artwork, and food products.


Rae started riding horseback when she was 10 years old. She had her own horse when she was 11.


She says her interest in horses comes from her father, Russ Inman.


He and I rode together, she says. He did 4-H with me and nurtured my love of horses.


She rode with friends almost every day when she was growing up, she says.


Having kids involved with horses is probably one of the best hobbies, Rae says. Besides having fun and having opportunities to meet other horse people, it teaches responsibility because they have to take care of the animal. A horse will keep them out of trouble.


People have been drawn almost mystically to horses for thousands of years, and many still have that connection, she asserts. Even city parents want their kids to have their first pony ride.


Rae says she gets her drive and sense of humor from her mother, Helen Inman.


I love to laugh, and I try to be around people who laugh and we have a great time, she says.


Today, Rae and her husband of 33 years have four horses and 11 ponies on their ranch.


Perrenoud, a home builder who owns RAP Designs, also based at the ranch, is no stranger to horses.


Rick was raised with horses, Rae says.


Perrenoud farms hay for their horses and ponies, maintains the horse and ranch equipment, and handles much of the equine care, but Rae insists shes the tie that binds them to the equestrian lifestyle. He enjoys them, but hes not a hard-core cowboy, she says. His love of horses is through me.


Eight of their ponies came from her late friend Maureen Mo Gunderson, who owned and operated Story Book Farm Pony Rides, a popular kids attraction at Ride the West events.


Gunderson passed the reins to Story Book Farm Ponies over to Rae while hospitalized in the final stages of cancer. As a side business, the pony rides make up about 15 percent of Susan Rae Promotions total operations, she says.


Ironically, the business side of Ride the West cut into Raes riding time during the first years.


I still had horses in my backyard, so I spent time with them, she says. Last year, I started riding again.


This years Ride the West event will take up half the fairgrounds.


We added another building and will have 90,000 square feet of vendor space, up from 60,000 square feet last year, she says. The nice thing about the fairgrounds is theres a lot of room to expand.


Shes anticipating 150 vendors, and more than 200 horses mostly from the Northwest. More than 20 horse breeds will be represented, including exotic breeds and rare breeds from around the world.


One feature of the show thats not returning this year is the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements wild mustang and burro adoption program.


Rae, who has arranged for the BLM program to be part of Ride the West the past three years, says the BLM has other budget commitments this year. Shes optimistic, though that the BLM program will participate in the event in future years.


They will probably be back next year. They did well finding homes for a considerable number of horses here, she says. The whole idea of Ride the West is to build on the history of the old West.


Now that the event is out of the starting gates, so to speak, she can concentrate more on improving Ride the West for attendees and participants, rather than worry about the survival of the event.


Once you get to the five-year mark, you can be pretty sure its going to be OK, she says.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.