Blue's Story

It was fate that brought Blue and I together, for months before Blue came into my life I had been looking at many potential horses, trying to find the right one, that perfect match. But it seemed like it was a lost cause and that I was never going to find the horse that ‘fit” or ‘felt-right’ so I had decided to give up on my search because all the let downs and disappointments.

A few days later I was approached by the barn owner where a friend of mine was keeping her horse. He told me about a 3-year-old stud colt in the neighboring barn, I was instantly hesitant about going to see him as I didn’t feel that a stud colt would be a good option for my first horse. But the barn owner insisted that I go see him and mentioned that he would be heading to the local cattle auction the following day if a home wasn’t found. My bleeding heart and I decided to go and see him.

We walked over to the other barn, slid open the large sliding doors and walked into the dark, dusty, and dingy barn. It took a few minutes for our eyes to adjust, we were lead to the very back corner of the barn where a dark head peeked out over the stall door. He nickered as we approached and was I got closer it was apparent that it was love at first sight. I took the colt out of his stall, he had very good manners and eagerly walked at my side, lead him past the duty hay bales and out into the sunlight. He pranced around with his tail up in the air and nickered and neighed to all that would listen and respond.

My mind was set, I made a few calls that night and it was decided, Moody Blue was mine.

We had a few bumps in the road in the beginning, being an off-the-track Standardbred he had a few “quirks” that we had to work through but as long as I went slow with him and had lots of patience he was good. It was apparent that he had been abused in one way or another because anytime someone would walk by his stall with a shovel, broom, manure fork etc . . . he would leapt to the back of his stall and shake. So there was lots of work done to help desensitize him and he eventually got over his fears bit by bit.

Our relationship continued to grow and strengthen throughout the years but it wasn’t until we found Parelli that our bond was really solidified. I could finally communicate with him in a way that he fully understood and he was eager for each new session, each new task or challenge that we approached as a team. He became more and more enthusiastic to be with me, he’d be the first at the gate and the last to leave.

In the summer of 2007 I purchased the Parelli Level 1 Kit and our relationship was taken to a whole new level. I was able to communicate to him much more clearly and concisely. We quickly began to play through the tasks and it wasn’t long before I was looking for more information that would help us.

Both Blue and I have come a long, long way from that sunny September morning and I hope that we continue to build our relationship. This January I hope to test for my Level 1 with Blue, once the new system is in place.