All my life I wanted a horse.  My parents thought it was just a phase so they didn't take me too seriously.  My junior year I discovered my school had a stable & riding classes.  I was so excited!  Unfortunately all of their classes conflicted with all my core classes.  I was not going to be deterred!!  I said to the instructor "Please!  I'll do anything!!  Please let me be here when I'm not in class!!"  She had such a great idea.  She told me (who had never been near a horse) that I could work with this little Arabian stallion in the back stall.  He was 4 yrs old and had been horribly abused by an unethical trainer on the Arabia show circuit.  It turns out the little guy had become dangerously aggressive as a result, so the owners donated him to my University as a tax write off.  I thought this was a great plan!!  

For three months I walked Keene like a dog.  On April 1, the day before my 21 birthday, I drove up to find an auction going on at the ranch.  Then I heard a whinny.  Turning around, I saw my new friend fighting to get away from being loaded in a trailer.  He had been sold for slaughter.  I immediately bought him from the driver with the rent money my parents had just sent me.  So now, a person who had never ridden a horse, bought a horse who had never been ridden, with money that was not her own!!

I was the first person on his back (he was an angel - I think he knew we had to take care of each other!!).  Our first true ride together was a group trail from Riverside to the Norco Fair grounds  (I don't know the distance but it was long!!)  We discovered crosswalks are really deep bottomless chasms to be avoided at all costs, orange groves are really the enchanted forest from Wizard of Oz, men with orange hats really DO come out of those man holes (did you know some horses can go backwards really fast?), and anything that is laying on the ground must be jumped as high as possible so as not to let ANYTHING touch our legs.  We also learned that at no time is anyone allowed to be in front.  That was my first gallop situation.  The next day I bought a helmet!!.

So how many dumb things does that make??   Maybe I should stop the story while I'm behind.

Juliann & Alora (who doesn't seem to need me at all)