The horseman’s world is full of romance and mystique, hardship and majesty. On Jan. 26, this world recognized one of its own, Glenn Atkinson. He received the 2007 Outstanding Horseperson-Citizen award from the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County.
Each year the Mounted Patrol recognizes a local horseperson for professional, charitable and community service, and for work to ensure that the area remains horse-friendly. Mr. Atkinson, a 33-year Woodside resident, certainly fits the bill.
Born in Okeechobee, Florida, he got his first pony at age 5, when he and the pony were about the same height. It was love at first sight.
“I’d been riding probably since I was in diapers,” Mr. Atkinson says. His father was a horseman; this life was in his blood. But, he adds, “It’s different when you own [the pony].”
What followed over the next 75 years, he says, has been a life of horsemanship, building and managing equine facilities, and raising cattle.
Mr. Atkinson’s day job was in the construction business; he remembers helping to build large parts of Interstate 280 in the 1970s as vice president and general manager of San Mateo-based construction firm L.C. Smith and Company. His construction expertise and love for horses conveniently converged.
“I’ve built six or seven barns that hold about 200 horses in Woodside,” he says. “I’m still doing it.” He offers his experience and expertise to horse facilities throughout the area.
In 1987, Mr. Atkinson and his wife, Nancy, started their own stable, Portola Farms, a barn complex in Woodside.
“I still run the place; I drive the tractors,” he says. “I love watching the youngsters ride; 5-, 6-, 7-year-olds stopping, backing, turning [the horses]. It’s a beautiful sight.”
In the past 20 years, the Atkinsons have often opened Portola Farms to local schools and charities for fundraising events, which have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mr. Atkinson admits being naturally competitive. This tendency kept him at the top of his game when he played polo on a professional basis, competing all over the country. When Mr. Atkinson was 30, he says, his brother introduced him to this fast-paced and dangerous game. They played together at the Menlo Circus Club for 50 years, he says.
“We won a helluva lot more than we lost,” he boasts. “We were unbeatable.”
The adrenaline rush has always been a part of Mr. Atkinson’s life. In 1944, he remembers, he was parachuting behind enemy lines to secure bridges and roads for Allied troops. He sustained injuries during the Battle of the Bulge.
At 83, Mr. Atkinson is no spring chicken, but no one seems to have told him that.
“I just did a five-day ride in Pebble Beach where we did eight hours a day in the saddle,” he says. “And I ride the trails in Woodside; they’re beautiful.”
The horseman is a dying breed, and the popular, idealized vision of it rarely exists. Caring for and training the animals take a lot of time, work, money and space. Space, more than anything else, is increasingly becoming the limiting factor.
Mr. Atkinson has used his prominence in the local horse world and his position on the Architectural and Site Review Board of the town of Woodside to ensure the area remains horse friendly.
The award from the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County cites his service to the equestrian community and his support in preserving the county’s equestrian traditions, trails and stables.
Mr. Atkinson has been a member of the Mounted Patrol for 20 years. He played a key role in getting a new barn built at the Mounted Patrol grounds off of Tripp Road in Woodside
The local division of the Mounted Patrol was established in 1942 as a mounted arm of the county Sheriff’s Office. Today, the group organizes charity equestrian events, including the Fourth of July NorCal Junior Rodeo and the San Mateo County Horsemen’s Association Show.
The members still help the sheriff when called upon. “He’ll call us out for search and rescue missions when someone’s lost in the mountains,” he says, adding that they have always been very successful at finding people.
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