Not fit for (wo)man nor curly beasties

Well, the first week of the RAC challenge has been a bust here in bitterly cold Manitoba, so I am entertaining myself browsing images of our hot and sunny Prairie summer.

(Here you see my curly horse Spirit in red carpet condition, in fact, right after his before and after makeover sponsored by and featured on Ecolicious Equestrian. If you haven't checked out their products before, I can vouch for the fact that their Destress works especially well on even the curly mane. Spirit has double dreads and the conditioning and detangling lotion really works. What's the best about their products is they are 100% naturally derived and environmentally friendly)

So a little about me and my goal this year. I have been watching from the sidelines for many years, and in fact it was Curly Horse Country where I first discovered with JOY this wonderful breed. I had just "found" horses again and was dismayed to learn that my daughter is allergic. My hopes of getting my own horse were dashed until that point.

After a long search I fell in love with this rascal, even though he was really not the older, mature, been-there-done-that guy I was looking for. He was only going on 5, and had that in your pocket and your face too attitude that I knew was going to challenge me. In fact on our first test ride, he went down on all fours in the arena. But my gut and my instincts were telling me to go for it, so a few months later he was on a trailer headed east to Manitoba.

He came from RTE Curlies in Saskatchewan, but was born at Sunnybrook in Alberta, the son of the magnificent Paladdin. Pal is well known in the curly world and I like to think now that he left this earth far too soon, that Spirit is carrying on a piece of that amazing legacy.

Anyway it has been an adventure so far, and this amazing horse is getting better and better every year. Not to say it has been without challenge, but the biggest challenge has been ME. And my confidence and growth. Part of RAC for me this year will be to stretch my goals and abilities so I can keep up to this smarty.