Celtic Rose

My adventure with Rose has been pretty magical and I really do believe the universe conspired for me. This was for sure a love story that was meant to be. This is how it started.

Years ago I had a thoroughbred gelding named Sable. He thought he was a quarter horse and loved trail riding and jumping. Somehow, as goofy young horses do, he hurt himself and when I had the vet out, he said that he had torn a hind suspensory. I was devastated since I’d had him for about a year and a half and had lofty eventing goals with him.

Shortly after that, I was at work doing my best friend Jenina’s highlights and we were talking about horses as we often did. She all of a sudden gasped and said I wonder if Audrey still has that little Irish mare. While her highlights were processing we stalked Audrey on Facebook to see if she had sold that little mare or if she still had her. We didn’t find much so my best friend immediately texted her. Jenina had worked with Audrey in Virginia at an Irish sport horse farm as working students and had kept in touch ever since. Audrey texted back almost immediately and said that she still had her because she wanted to keep her but that she’d be willing to sell her but only if it went to a friend of Jenina‘s. Within the course of her highlight appointment we had made arrangements two weeks later to go to Texas Hill country to take a look at Rose for me to buy.

At the time Audrey was living on an 8000 acre ranch near Leakey, Texas. After our plane landed we headed out to the middle of nowhere. We arrived in the dark and Audrey met us at the gate. Of course we immediately went to the barn so I could see Rose. She was sleepily and eating and wasn’t that impressed with our presence. The next morning Audrey said we were going to go out for a ride up the river.  Up until this point Rose had been living with a small herd of horses on the 8000 acres, just roaming free like a bunch of bandits. Audrey ponied rose from her trusty steed June Bug, who she still has. We rode all the way up to an aquifer with caves cut into the hillside. We tied the horses up, crawled down into the cave and waded through thigh deep water to explore. Then on the way back Audrey let Rose loose to follow us back to the barn. We swam her in the river and I watched as June Bug took off in front of her and Rose followed like a flash of lightning across a giant Polo Cross field. We got back to the barn and I asked my friend Janina should I buy her? And she said definitely. We celebrated with margaritas.

I then had Audrey work with Rose for about another 60 days before she drove her out to California to drop her off. Rose stepped off the trailer late in the evening and was calm as a cucumber. A few days later Audrey drove home with my thoroughbred Sable in the trailer and took him to a youth ranch where he is still happily taking kids on trail rides.