Longtime Mt. Airy resident and horse lover Dr. Nancy Peter has no problem being saddled with responsibility; after all, she’s co-chairperson of the fifth annual “Horses and History of the Wissahickon” event at Monastery Stables.
This free public celebration scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 4, at the historic West Mt. Airy barn offers an afternoon of grooming lessons, horseback riding demonstrations, barn tours, historic tours of the monastery complex, a bake sale, opportunities to meet and pet the horses, and more. About 220 adults and children attended last year.
“People will learn about [the horses’] heights, weights, ages, lifespans and breeds,” Peter told the Local, “and why some have four metal shoes, some have two metal shoes, some have no shoes, and some wear rubber or plastic boots. And they will learn about the rich connection between horses and history in Fairmount Park.”
The six-acre Monastery complex has stood on its Fairmount Park site since 1747 and was never used as an actual monastery. It only gained its moniker because, in the 1750s, former owner Joseph Gorgas used it to house some of the area’s Baptists. It includes a horse barn, sheep barn, mansion, residential cottage and spring house. Currently, the site is also home to the Philadelphia Saddle Club, where area residents can join and enjoy horseback riding without owning a horse.
This year’s event will feature many different breeds of horses: Arabians, thoroughbreds, quarter horses, appendices (half quarter horse/half thoroughbred), draft mixes and more.
Peter grew up across from Carpenter’s Woods in West Mt. Airy. She has a B.S. degree in animal behavior from the University of Massachusetts and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania and has been riding horses for 58 years.
“I loved animals and pets since as far back as I can remember,” she said. “We had dogs, cats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, chinchillas, snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, ferrets, and parrots. I went to an overnight camp in the summer of 1967 called ‘Echo Farm,’ where I first learned to ride a horse. I went to ‘Broad Acres Day Camp’ the next two summers. That was a horseback riding camp located where Northwestern Stables is today. I was hooked from then on, from 1967 to 2025.”
In 2017, Peter wrote a book, “Twenty Horses,” in which she discussed the equines she rode all over Pennsylvania and Massachusetts before buying her first, Beau, in 2016. “The more I ride,” she said, “the more I feel like a teenage girl infatuated with horses. And the more I ride, the more I feel that Letty, my current horse, and I communicate in so many ways, verbal and nonverbal, and are almost always in sync.” Peter and Letty, who is about 14 years old, have been a team for four years.
Peter left her position as director of the McKinney Center for STEM Education last year, and boards Letty at the Monastery Stables. “Now that I work part-time,” Peter said, “I try to ride her four or five times a week. I have lots of great friends at the Monastery, so I almost always have a good buddy or two to ride with.”
The pair doesn’t always stay in the ring, though. “Letty and I go on trail rides, as opposed to riding in the outdoor arena,” Peter explained. “She is the perfect trail horse: calm, strong, responsive, and generally fearless, except when something scares her out of the blue, such as seeing a raccoon walking up a log last month. Letty is also very social, so I often stop and let both children and adults pet her and coo to her.”
Diane Garvey, the event’s other co-chairperson and president of Boarders and Stewards of the Monastery (a nonprofit that preserves and restores the complex’s historic buildings), told the Local, “I formerly lived in Mt. Airy and loved hiking in the Wissahickon. I would see people riding horses but always thought it was beyond my economic means. Every time I blew out the candles on my birthday cake as a kid, I wished for a horse but never had the opportunity to get involved until my own kids were almost in college.”
One day, Garvey saw a classified ad in The Philadelphia Inquirer that said “Ride all you want in the Wissahickon Park. Join the Philadelphia Saddle Club.” The phone number connected her with Dr. Tom Fitzpatrick, of Flourtown, a decorated World War II veteran and president of the Philadelphia Saddle Club. (Fitzpatrick is now 100 years old.)
Garvey said. “Joining the Saddle Club 20 years ago enabled me to learn all about horses, take riding lessons, learn to drive a carriage, ride the trails, compete in horse shows, participate in various trail riding events, and make lots of horsey friends.”
“Horses and History of the Wissahickon,” Saturday, Oct. 4, noon-3 p.m., Monastery Stables, 1000 Kitchens Lane. For more information, contact 215-760-5308, MonasteryStables.org, or email Nancy.Peter@verizon.net. In case of rain, the event will be rescheduled.
Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
