Introducing Yuma.

This beautiful mare was an aquisition of mine when I visited friends in southeastern Missouri in October of 2007. She was living with two other horses and a donkey in a "pasture" with no forage or shelter. I bought her for the mere sum of $300. She stayed in Missouri with my friends until August of 2008. She lived in Golden, with Butch, until September when another friend, Michelle, took her up to Loveland. Yuma still currently lives up in Loveland where she is being trained once a week by Michelle, and ridden by me once a week on the trails up above Horsetooth Reservoir. Our ultimate goal: endurance competition this year. 25, 50, 75, or 100 mile trail rides covering all sorts of terrain in the weather of the day. I have joined the Mountain Endurance Ride Council (MERC), which is Colorado oriented and the American Endurance Ride Council (AERC), which is national in scope.

I totally lucked out, taking a chance on this girl. She has a good mind, a competitive spirit, LOVES being out on the trail, and is indeed all wrapped up in a beautiful package! I like to, at times, believe that I actually had great instincts and insight in picking such a horse. Her former owner knew nothing about her, or her past, having purchased her at an auction. Heck, she hadn't even ever bothered to ride her!

So now she's my girl, though Butch likes to think that she's his. I adore her every bit as much as I do him.

There'll be more to come in the future on our adventures and endurance endeavors.