WALCOTT, N.D. — A “horse-crazy" girl since she was knee-high to a Shetland pony, Amy Beito Gibson has worked with a few contrary horses and mastered many long trail rides in her life.
But the trail she chose two years ago might be her most challenging ride yet. In the fall of 2022, Beito Gibson resigned from her job as director at Rasmussen College in Fargo to devote herself full time to building Redneck Fancy Horse Tack. Now, instead of spending her days in an office, she can be found hauling feed and cleaning barns on a pristine 19-acre spread by the Wild Rice River.
Here, she lives with husband, Dan, a geotechnical engineer; three horses named Rosie, Grace and Scout; a rescue donkey named DJ, and a friendly white Lab mix named Copper. When Beito Gibson isn’t maintaining her farm, she creates intricate mohair and leather cinches, breast collars, halters and reins for people’s horses, then hauls her handiwork in a 16-foot-trailer to rodeos and other horse events to sell them. Her mobile store also showcases other goods geared toward equestrians: country-chic wall hangings she makes from authentic lassos; horseshoe decor made by Orin Swart — a childhood neighbor who got her into horses in the first place, and T-shirts with sayings like, “Gritty & Pretty.
” Beito Gibson's main customers are people just like her: Women who love horses. “The essence of the brand is, “We like our glitz and glam but we’re not afraid to get dirty,” she said. “It just goes a l.