...has a prince in the backyard!

Prince Caspian that is!

Caspian is my beautiful (or handsome as I'm sure he prefers), 7 year old Arabian gelding whom I adoped last September from a local rescue organization, Cowgirl Spirit Rescue Drill Team. You can learn more about this amazing organization at http://csrdt.org/.

I was first introduced to Cowgirl Spirit on a warm July evening, at a local state drill competition. I have a good friend on a sister drill team and my mom and I love to check out their performances. What a fun way to spend a summer evening! On the way out, I was wistfully thinking of when I might someday get to own my own horse again. I grew up with an Appaloosa, Chopper, but he passed away in his thirties my senior year in high school. He was such a wonderful companion for me growing up, that I vowed I would someday own a horse again and that my future children would have a chance to grow up the way that I did.

As my mom and I discussed this during our drive, she asked me if I had ever considered adopting a rescue horse. To be honest, I hadn’t really given it much thought, but the idea intrigued me. Then, as fate would have it, Cowgirl Spirit had their horses in the same barn that my friend’s horse was in. My mom took me down to the end of the barn where I first met Salsa. She was a beautiful "Morab". My heart started pounding and I got so excited to see her as an example of the type of horse that might be available for adoption. However, I tucked the idea away, as our property was still not fenced at that point and I had quite a few projects that needed finishing before I could even think about fencing! Then, fate stepped in again about a month later when my friend e-mailed me about another horse that was available for adoption. His name was Prince Caspian and after looking at his profile online, I instantly fell in love with him. A week later, I met him, applied for adoption and the rest is history! I spent two weekends getting fencing up (although there's still more to do!) and my non-horsey husband helped out by putting up a shelter for him, which turned out really great!

Caspian is such a great horse, exactly the type of horse I was hoping for. He even reminds me a little bit of Chopper! Other than the fact that he’s missing the spots on his rump, his coloring (and personality!) are very similar.

I am so impressed with Cowgirl Spirit and their positive role in the horse community. It seems that now, more than ever, there is such a need for responsible rescue programs such as theirs.

Caspian and I were lucky enough to hit the trails with a couple of my girlfriends before the yucky weather season started and it was a BLAST! I hadn't been on the trails since I was about twelve, so I was in heaven! Unfortunately, I don't have a trailer yet, so I think most of my riding will be pretty local for awhile. I don't mind that though, in fact I'm currently working on getting my "mini-arena" ready so Caspian and I can get going on some training (more on that in a future post). When I adopted him, I knew that he was still pretty green, but I'm really excited to train with him, espcially since I'm still pretty green myself, really! When I was younger I rode all the time, but that's definitely been awhile and I never did have any formal training, mostly just read a lot of "how to" books! ;) I've been in touch with a couple of local trainers, who will hopefully be willing to work with me at my house, at least for now. The arena footing should be installed within the next couple of weeks, and hopefully by then the weather will be improving a little. Today is a lovely combination of snow mixed with rain. Brrr...

I feel so fortunate to have a horse in my life again and can't wait to see what the future holds for us!