A Horse of My Own

It may surprise some of you to know that, although I've loved horses as long as I can remember, ridden them since I was 7, trained them since I was 16, and now make my living working with them, I have never owned a horse of my own. There have been several special horses in my life, but they've all been owned by other people.

Now, there are some nice things about that. For one, it's nice to have someone else picking up the tab for board, shoes, blanekts, food, shots, etc. I often joked that I had the best of both worlds - training and spending time with horses I loved, without having to pay for or worry about them.

But, seeing one favorite horse after another get sold and leave the farm gets old and sad after awhile. And there was one special boy I just couldn't bear to let go. Yep, that's right, I BOUGHT A HORSE!!! I'm now the very proud and excited owner of my very first horse, an amazing 4-year-old Irish Sport Horse named Palladin.

I started Palladin this summer and fell in love with him before I ever rode him, but never even considered buying him. He has a quirky, goofy personality that is comical and lovable at the same time. He loves attention and play and turns to mush when you pet his face or scratch one of his favorite spots. But I love most of the horses I work with, and I wasn't looking for a horse.

Then, when I rode him, I couldn't believe what I was feeling. There is absolutely no way to describe this to someone who hasn't ridden nice horses or doesn't ride at all, but Palladin's canter is the most incredible thing I've ever felt on a horse. Most babies are gawky and awkward (and he can be sometimes too!) and need help finding a rhythm, but his canter is the smoothest, most naturally rhythmic gate I have ever felt. It's like riding a waltz played in perfect time by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

And then we started jumping him.

It was all downhill from there. So I joked about finding somebody to buy him for me, but prepared myself to say goodbye, because I knew he'd sell quickly once we started advertising him. But driving home from dinner with Jamie one night, she mentioned that she knew I loved him and we could figure something out with his price. Luke and I debated the pros and cons, went back and forth, and decided not to buy him - after all, we are closing on our first house next week! But after sitting down and really crunching the numbers, we figured out that we really did have the money after all, and so today Jamie called the 16 people, some as far away as California, that had seen his ads on the internet and were seriously interested in buying him.

It still hasn't quite sunk in yet. I OWN MY OWN HORSE!!! :) I've been trying to post a couple of pictures, but it's not working. There are a couple pictures of him from this summer on Jamie's website, but I'll try and post some new ones as soon as possible. I can't wait to show him off. ;) He's just adorable and stunning at the same time.

So I finally have a horse of my own. :)