Wow......where do I begin? Horses are my passion......no question. As far back as I can remember, my requests for Christmas, birthday, toothfairy, easter bunny.....and any other occasion that could even REMOTELY warrant a gift list......were short and to the point......." a horse please......." (Not a pony, mind you, a HORSE!)

Not an uncommon request for a 12 year old girl, you say.......but what about a 30 year old???

I got my first horse when I was 4 years old, and have been a die-hard horse lover ever since.

So......herein lies the tale. Or tail. Or mane. Or whatever.

a l e x 

Alex is a HUGE 7 year old thoroughbred that I bought from my race horse neighbors across the way. At 17.2h, his back is taller than my head!! Alex has been voted "Most Likely to Kill Either Himself or Me", after a series of relatively major accidents in his first six-months with me. Alex is now on a 12 month hiatus......he gets to kick back in the pasture and learn how to be a horse. After he has learned how to be a horse, I am hoping that he will be a much safer ride. He is intelligent and sweet, just accident prone. Combine that with my OWN inherent lack of grace, and it makes for a deadly combination.

j . r . 

J.R. is my favorite riding horse. He is an 8 year old Tennessee Walker. What a pleasure to be around. He is beautiful, intelligent, brave, willing, gentle, and has a ride like silk. Despite the fact that he is not big by horse standards, he leaves horses twice his size in the dust on trails, and can go for miles without breaking a sweat. It is always a bit of "poetic justice" to arrive back at camp 15 minutes BEFORE the rest of the crew, most of whom were frowning down their noses at the "little black foo-foo horse" at the beginning of the trail ride. Ha Ha!!

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b e a u

Beau is a 10 year old Morgan. He is the pasture bully.....and my body-guard. He thinks HE owns ME, instead of the other way around. Beau is another "solid as a rock" horse.......I would trust him with my 6 year old nephew. He is shown here with my younger sister, after not having been ridden for 4 years!! You would never have known it, from the way the two of them hit it off. I "met" Beau 6 years ago when I had my Quarter Horse boarded at a private barn. It was love at first site. Beau had a leg injury when he was younger, so he can't be used for heavy riding, but he had such a sweet disposition (to humans anyway), I couldn't resist adding him to the menagerie. Plus, he and Malekai (below) were the only two horses in the boarding stable who could tolerate each other.....so when Malekai and I left, Beau came with us.

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m a l e k a i

Malekai was the first horse I bought when I moved to the Pacific Northwest from Florida, back in 1987. (I was looking for a car......came home with a 5 month old colt......no problem here!). I named him Malekai, because on the day I got him, I went to dinner and was seated by a kid who looked like "Malekai" on the Stephen King horror flick "Children of the Corn". Soon afterwards, I wondered if I should have pondered my choice of names further before choosing a name from a horror movie, because Malekai seemed determined to live up to the legacy. In short....he was the "horse from heck". Now that he is older, he has mellowed a bit, but he is still affectionately known as "PITA" (aka: Pain In The....ummm..."Butt"). :) Malekai has recently relocated to beautiful Grass Valley, California where he is now being spoiled rotten by the Morrison family. He will be an uncle to one of Don Marco's foals next year, out of Susan's lovely Arabian mare, Shara. Malekai is the first horse that I have ever parted with, but in this case, it wasn't a hard decision. He and Shara hit it off so well, and Susan is just as horse crazy as I am......so it was a perfect fit. He thinks he has gone to heaven.