Who we are

A classic cowboy through and through, veteran horseback rider and caretaker Mike MacDougall is as part of the American Southwest as saguaros. While he was born in Colorado, Mike grew up in the desert life of Phoenix. His family moved to the Valley of the Sun in the 1950s, bringing with them a hard-working ethic along with their son and daughter.

Mike learned to ride at the age of sixteen and has been doing it ever since. His connection with horses was always there, but the blazing Phoenix area provided an opportunity in a very different industry in his earlier years: building pools. With the intense summers and ever-expanding housing market, the booming valley was the ideal place for this service. Mike constructed thousands of pools over the years!

When the Phoenix heat finally got old, Mike moved up to Payson and found the serenity on the Mogollon Rim that has been his home to this day. In the early 2010s, he established Double M Stables, a beautiful horse boarding venue situated near the Christopher Creek area east of Payson, Arizona. He personally nurtures this place and the horses in his charge.

With years of boarding under his belt, Mike has built Double M Stables into the ideal horse rider’s getaway. His personable character and experience with livestock provides boarders with both the venue they need and the care they can count on. He’s an easy-going, hard-working guy who offers warm hospitality to horses and their owners.

Mike knows his horses and he knows the land. With hundreds of miles of gorgeous trails right out his backyard, he’s the man to ask when planning a riding adventure in the mountains. He’s been working with horses for nearly sixty years and he’s still riding strong.