Exactly 2 years ago today I was receiving this handsome youngster into my family.  Pictured above is his sale photo which I found online and fell in love with.

He was unbroke and barely handled – quite afraid of the people around him, but had kind eyes and a beautiful stride.  He was worth a shot.

At first, we had some awful moments.  Once I spent over an hour in the rain and mud just trying to get him to the barn.  I would get a few meters away from the paddock and he would panic and drag me back crying – yes I really did spend over an hour doing this, its a miracle I wasn’t hurt.  He was so headshy that I was able to saddle and ride him before I could even get near enough to his face to even think about bridling him.  He would nip during our groundwork and kick if you tried to touch his back legs.  However, one day everything just seemed to click, and from that point on he was a willing and eager partner… things became easy and firsts were fast and numerous.

Now 2 years later, we have already accomplished so much together – 350 competition miles, thousands of training miles, our first 50, tons of top tens, hacking, jumping, dressage, bareback, reinless, tricks, camping, snuggles and most importantly an unbreakable friendship.