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Who knew there was a Western movie set tucked away inside a private riding arena in Steamboat's south valley?

When Candy and Maury Bunn built storage units into the north end of their arena on Routt County Road 14C, Candy persuaded her husband to create scaled-down Western facades on the cabinets. She employed her artistic skills to complete the scene.

A faux Western town may not be high on the list of people looking for horse property during the holiday weekend, but it certainly sets the Bunns' 35-acre parcel apart from the others.

The Bunns' property, which does not have a standalone house, but a two-bedroom apartment built on to one end of the arena, is listed for sale at $1.17 million.

Broker owner Cam Boyd, of Prudential Steamboat Realty, said there are many more properties in Routt County that are built specifically with horses in mind than most town folk are aware of. The key to selling them, he said, is locating equestrian enthusiasts.

"You could go right over there and purchase a similar piece of undeveloped ground in the $800s," he said, "but for a little bit more, you can get a lot of improvements. You need to see value in the riding arena."

In addition to his listing on the Bunn place, he and partner Pam Vanatta have co-listed Mignon Stetman's horse property just outside the city limits off Elk River Road (Routt County Road 129).

It has a five-bedroom, five-bathroom home - the kind that outdoors people are comfortable in.

Receiving equal billing is the classic hip-roofed Western barn with stalls for seven horses. Barn Pros built it, and everything about the layout maximizes efficiency.

The stalls have their own separate run-outs to the pasture. It's easy to feed hay by cutting bales stored on the second floor and dropping them directly into the stalls. There is a washing stall and a secure tack room with paneled ceiling.

A pond on the property supplies ample water for irrigating the pastures and hay crop.

Like the Bunn property, the Stetman property is seeking buyers who dream of keeping horses in the Yampa Valley. If anything, the niche of ideal buyers for the Stetman property is even more refined - equestrian people who placed a high value on being two minutes from their private plane would be best of all. Steamboat Springs Airport is just down the road.

Boyd and Vanatta have the property listed for $2.395 million.

"It's an ideal home for a family with young children," Boyd said. "It's close to town for after-school activities, and you could raise 4-H animals here."

Finished with pine floors, solid pine doors and a country kitchen, it has a casual appeal.

"This is a place where you don't have to feel like to you have to take your boots off," Boyd said.

The downstairs family room has a picnic-table-style poker table.

Many families that have horses place a premium on a secondary unit or apartment. The idea is to be able to rent to a person who is good with horses and can take care of the animals while the owners are away, Boyd said. There's even the potential to trade horse-boarding privileges for rent.

Maury Bunn said that's exactly what he had in mind when he built an apartment into his riding arena after purchasing his place in the South Valley 10 years ago.

"We designed it as a legal secondary unit, allowing a buyer to someday build the home they want."

The Bunns use the apartment as their summer residence and enjoy the secluded setting.

Although there aren't many hills and trees in the neighborhood, there are very few houses in sight from the Bunns' picnic area beside the pond.

The apartment has cool concrete floors, a sleek, modern kitchen and 10-foot ceilings. An air exchange system refreshes the air.

"The cool thing is, you come right from the house into the arena," Boyd said.

There is plenty of room to train horses indoors and out of the winter weather and a row of five paddocks at the south end with storage for 40 tons of hay above. Bunn has used a clever elevator and trolley system to make it easy to feed.

"I've set everything up so Candy can easily manage the chores on her own," Bunn said. "She can feed outdoors in winter with an ATV pulling a sled."

Three frost-proof drinking hydrants make it easy for the horses to get a drink on demand.

An in-ground drainage system keeps the corral from getting mucky in the spring.

From either the Stetman property or the Bunn property, the horses are soaking up mountain views they can't fully appreciate.