It’s an early Sunday morning in Temecula, California. The sun is high enough now to burn away the low-hanging mist that slides in from the ocean to reveal a Tuscan-like landscape of softly rolling hills, castlelike wineries, and expansive ranches famous for breeding and training championship quarter- and cutting horses.
Mark Matson (who looks like he could have stepped right out of a John Ford western) and his skilled horsewoman wife, Marika, are the owners of the Temecula Carriage Co. Along with their assistant, Arlene Eyerman, they’ve been up for a while, making sure the horses are fed, tack is polished, and their fleet of carriages is ready for today’s champagne clip-clop tours.
