Rooftop equine is unplanned guidepost
The fiberglass horse that sits atop the roof at OK Feed & Supply was never meant to serve as a directional marker for lost motorists trying to navigate the north side of Tucson.
Rather, owner Doug Jordon decided sometime in the 1980s to move the horse from its in-store display because he was running out of room, manager Kip Arnold said.
"He put it on the roof to get it out of the way," Arnold said.
More than 20 years later, OK Feed & Supply at 3701 E. Fort Lowell Road is as well known for its rooftop equine as it is for its ground-level products, so much so that nearby residents have had trouble coping with its absence at times when the horse was temporarily displaced from its perch.
"The last time it got stolen, our phones rang off the hook," said Arnold, who for 15 years has managed the store at the northeast corner of East Fort Lowell Road and North Dodge Boulevard. "People in the Foothills use that for giving directions. They kept asking, 'When are you going to put it back up?' "
The red- and-white-painted horse has been stolen at least twice, Arnold said. The most recent theft, in 2001, saw it gone for nearly three weeks before it was found in the middle of the street near East University Boulevard and North Cherry Avenue.
"Both times it was university treasure hunts, I think," he said. "I really thought it was gone the last time."
Now the horse — which weighs less than 100 pounds — has been bolted not only to the roof, but to the roof's support beams.
"Somebody may take it again, but they're going to have to work their butt off to do it," Arnold said.
It is unknown exactly how long the horse has been at OK Feed & Supply, Arnold said, though it was part of the inventory that Jordon acquired in 1973 when he bought the store from the original owner, O.K. "Bum" Post.
Post, whose given name was Orville Kelvin but was known by everyone as "Bum," opened OK Feed & Supply in 1937 in the heart of the area known then as Binghampton, a Mormon community of farms along the Rillito River.
"There was not much civilization out here then," Arnold said. "Bum told me there was nothing between this corner and Stone Avenue."
Nowadays, OK Feed & Supply finds itself in the middle of an area known more for home-furnishings stores than dog food and horse feed. Even so, Arnold said the rooftop horse continues to keep the store identifiable — and profitable.
"Our sales are actually a little ahead of last year," he said.
