Pole Bending Horses for Sale near Ruidoso Downs, NM

About Ruidoso Downs, NM

According to a local Ruidoso Downs historian, early on Hispanos settlers called the area "San Juanito." The settlers began arriving in the early in the late 1840s, and introduced rodeo and horse racing to the area. Originally the area had scattered farms and ranches, with the Dowlin Mill constructed in 1868. A new wave of families arrived after the Lincoln County War. By around 1907 the road between Roswell and Alamogordo, which passed through the area, was still primitive, though it was improved in the 1920s through The Federal Aid Project. The road that would become US 70 was paved in the area around 1945, and then improved again in 1958.