In 1948, C.E. Peterson bought a 110-acre Edina dairy farm that just a few years previously had operated with workhorses, and he turned it into one of the area’s premier riding stables for saddle-bred horses.
With the only indoor riding arena in the upper Midwest and well-known trainers, Valley View Stables attracted top show competitors as well as children taking their first riding lessons.
Although Edina farm kids grew up around workhorses, the new suburban youngsters had little opportunity for horse riding outside of stables like Valley View. The local newspaper showed them engaging in “horse play,” games like musical chairs and egg races with horses.
Before long, however, the growing population gobbled up land near the stables at 6717 Valley View Rd. “Not more than 200 yards away are bright new residences, some under construction, some with ‘For Sale’ signs already in front of them,” reported the Edina-Morningside Courier in February 1960.
Valley View Stables was among the last horse operations in the inner-ring suburbs. In 1961, the land was sold and became a housing subdivision, the area that includes Lois Lane and Susan Avenue east of Valley View Road.
Still, horse riding remained so popular that park director Clifford French considered adding bridle paths to Braemar Park when it was in the planning stages in 1961. In the end, however, baseball, hockey and soccer overshadowed horse riding.
Edinans still ride horses, of course, but they must travel to the outer ring suburbs to do so. At least two children who learned to ride at Valley View, Bob Jenson and Judy Balfanz, now operate stables of their own at the edges of the metro area.
“I learned everything I needed to know at Valley View,” Jenson says. “It was great on-the-job training.”
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More photos and information about Valley View Stables can be found at the Edina History Museum, 4711 W. 70th St. Hours: 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Thurs., 10 a.m.–noon Sat.; 612.928.4577
