I recently had the honor to ride horses with former Minnesota Governor Al Quie. He shared with me some fantastic horsemanship and how aging has become another adventure in his life. I love what he says about learning. Learn more from Governor Quie in ourChanging Aging YouTube video.
By his estimation, Governor Quie, the 35th Governor of Minnesota, has taken the reins of a horse approximately 13,104 times in his 89 years. Governor Quie began riding at age 3. His first memory is of his father lifting him up to sit on his Morgan mare’s back. He recalls the warmth of the horse’s neck on his fingers. He also remembers unhitching and walking a team of horses into the barn while his father watched. By the time he was 8 years old, Governor Quie had a pony of his own. Throughout his life – working as a senator, a State Representative, the Governor of Minnesota and a Congressman in the 85th-95th Congresses – Governor Quie has made time to ride horses about three days a week.
In addition to his love of horses, he’s still very involved in his love of Minnesota public policy. He recently led what has become known in our state as The Quie Commission, a citizen’s commission, focused upon gaining bi-partisan support for taking the politics out of Minnesota judicial elections. The goal is to avoid expensive, often brutal, campaigns, and offer voters better information. The core of the Quie Commission’s recommendations is the creation of "retention elections." Under the proposal, governors would appoint judges, and their performance would be reviewed by an independent merit selection commission. Based on the panel's finding, voters would decide whether to keep or oust the judge. Minnesotans of all political perspectives are joining Governor Quie in this effort through the Coalition for Impartial Justice.
The morning I spent with Governor Quie, he rode a beautiful young gelding named, “Rambler”. As I borrowed a horse from his barn, and rode with Governor Quie, I saw how his political negotiating skill ties to his horse handling. Governor Quie is a “horse whisperer”. Many of the horses he’s owned or trained have come from friends and acquaintances, which after struggling to train the horses themselves, are told “The only person I know who can train a horse like that is Al Quie”. A friend came to him and asked if he’d train Rambler while he was out of the country. Governor Quie hesitated. He was 88 years old. Did he really want to risk his wellbeing for this horse? Governor Quie found he couldn’t resist the challenge.
Over the last year, the Governor has taken Rambler from being a horse that refused to move to one that confidently walks, trots and canters through the arena. Governor Quie likes to train the horses to move off of his body’s cues. The horse’s movements are almost imperceptible. It’s really something to behold. Governor Quie told me he had a dream when he was younger that he would ride horses at 80. At 89, he’s fulfilled this wish and then some. Here’s to many more rides, Governor Quie.