Larry Smyth, Executive Director of Walkin N Circles Ranch, has spent his whole life around horses. Horses have been an integral part of his life almost since the day he was born. In fact, Larry was born on a ranch and sat on his first horse before he could walk. He is a nationally certified trainer and has won several world and national competition titles. In addition to working at WNCR, he has a contract with Albuquerque Police Department to train their police horses.

He spent his youth living and working on ranches. His first paid job working on a ranch was in 1974 green breaking horses. For a time, he worked as a vice president for a large oil company in Texas. He decided that the corporate life was not for him so he left it behind and joined the Albuquerque Police Department. There he worked in a variety of units: gang, tactical, mounted unit and narcotics, just to name a few. He recently retired from APD with 35 years of experience. Whether it was a tough day in the board room or on the streets fighting crime, what kept him sane was always being able to come home and spending time with his horses.

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Larry lives down the road from WNCR and had known about the ranch for years. Several years ago, the APD Mounted Unit was asked to put on a demonstration at the ranch while Larry was with the unit. That was his first experience with the ranch. He was impressed with the mission of the ranch and knew he wanted to be a part of it. He soon began volunteering his time and brought along his son, Colton. Colton is a trainer, too, and now trains for the ranch. Larry wanted to expose Colton to working with neglected and abused horses, and what better place than WNCR!

When Larry began volunteering at the ranch, he helped train many of the more difficult horses and started working with volunteers. Over time, he has helped improve the existing volunteer training program, and in 2019, he joined the WNCR Board of Directors where he could help guide the overall direction of the ranch. In November 2021, Larry stepped down from the board to assume the role of Executive Director. He now oversees the daily operation of the ranch and thrift store, working with the staff to continually make both places even better.

His passion for horses is as strong today as ever. One of the greatest feelings to him is that first touch you get on a new horse. He says it has an almost magical feeling to it. When you talk to Larry about training, he will tell you that there is no fool-proof method to training. While there are certain techniques that work most of the time with most horses, nothing will work all of the time. This is especially true at WNCR where we have horses that have been neglected, abused and often scared of people. If something doesn’t work, you try something different. Even after all of his years of experience, he will be the first to tell you he’s always learning and working to become better at what he does.

Walkin N Circles Ranch is still an inspirational place to him. It’s not just the horses, but also the volunteers. He knows that without the volunteers, WNCR would not be possible. Larry does all he can to give back to the volunteers by offering a variety of classes, many of which other places charge hundreds of dollars to take. He is also there to help volunteers when they ask. He knows that the better trained the volunteers, the more likely they are to get the same thrill and satisfaction from working with horses.