There was only one way to Christina’s heart: astride a horse.

Blake Wagner stayed in the saddle, and lo these many years later, the happy trail brings the couple to Bainbridge and a new tack shop for the island’s many equestrian enthusiasts.

Call it a stable relationship.

“(Without horses), there was no marriage going on there,” Christina Wagner says.

Sunny’s Tack Room – named for the couple’s infant daughter, and for whom all profits will become a college fund – opened earlier this month at Island Center, next to Bainbridge Rental.

The shop boasts an inventory the proprietors describe as “the basic horse stuff” for all riding styles – bridles, stirrup leathers, breeches, helmets and gloves.

Equipment lines include Myler bits and Ariat boots, and special orders can be filled.

There are also instructional books and videos – “A Whole Bit Better” is among the titles – as well as such novelties as weathervanes, keychains and mailbox ornaments in horse motifs.

The niche for a tack shop was apparent to the Wagners, who keep two American Saddlebreds of their own – Beau and Sally – at a Mandus Olson Road stable, and who ride regularly through the Grand Forest and Gazzam Lake.

“You had to go to Seattle to get a bit, which was ridiculous,” said Christina, a lifelong rider whose father has maintained show horses for 45 years.

Blake and Christina met some 15 years ago at a Minnesota health club, where she worked as an aerobics instructor. The courtship began with a test of Blake’s equine acumen, or at least adaptability, in a bareback ride.

“If I stayed on, she’d date me; if I fell off, I was outta there,” he said. “Little did I know when I got on the horse.”

He stayed on; the couple married and moved to California to pursue education in medicine with a goal of becoming chiropractors.

They came to the island three years ago, when Blake pursued an opportunity with a local health club. The Wagners now maintain chiropractic practices at Bainbridge Spine Center on Madison Avenue.

Christina’s practice has extended to the burgeoning realm of physical therapy and acupuncture for distressed horses, which takes her to stables in California and elsewhere on a regular basis.

“Horses make the best patients,” she says, adding, “If you work on the rider and the horse, that’s when you’re going to have success. Everybody’s aligned, everything’s working great.”

One weekend each month, she also returns to her home state to see her father and to compete, and currently holds the Minnesota Saddle Horse Association’s title in “5 Gaited Pleasure,” in which riders strut their mounts around a ring.

Later this year, she plans to launch Equitech, a trademarked fitness program for equestrian athletes.

A series of instructional videotapes to be taped at a local health club will show riders how to develop the core body strength essential to success in the saddle.

“It takes 110 muscles to post correctly,” Christina said. “Everybody’s looking at the horse, the horse, the horse, but what about the rider?”

The Wagners also hope to sponsor horsemanship clinics for youths and events at the Saddle Club in Manzanita.

The tack shop will be open most afternoons, and is looking for part-time help. A regular in the shop is likely to be Sunny, “the boss.”

“If customers any complaints, this is who they go to,” Blake said.