Flashback!

Before I even brought Linus home I had dreams of one day doing a big, trailer out to it, trail ride with other horses and of doing a parade. Big dreams for a horse who at the time was not even weaned! Well, despite the roller coaster year that 2013 seemed to be, we achieved these dreams and so much more! 2013 marked Linus' 4th Birthday and I think he had quite the year! He's such a fantastic horse. I love his personality, willingness to please and it has been the best experience ever training him! I owe a lot to the RAC. We first joined before Linus was even a yearling and had so much support, inspiration and awesome challenges! Thank you Denise for your tireless effort year after year. What you do for all us is amazing! Thanks also to everyone who ever took the time to read and/or comment on our posts. 

Linus was born at Homefire Curly Horses. In the above picture, he is seen reuniting with Sam, who also lived there at the time! Sam is now owned by a friend of mine who lives close by. This was such a cool meeting for us. Not often do horses who go there separate ways get to meet up again!

Back in September, another friend of mine posted a link to my Facebook wall for an upcoming Cancer Research ride and suggested Linus and I join her and her horse on it. Oh boy! What a whirlwind of emotions that was! Definitely something I wanted to some day do with Linus but was it a good idea for his "trailer to" trail ride to be such a big one? Linus is so awesome and always comes through for me when I ask something big of him. So, why not?! We went for it and it was AMAZING!! He was a superstar. I met up with an organizer a couple of months after and well over 150 riders raised over $20,500!!!!

This is also when Cyndi and I got to meet! What a fun day!

After some successful trail rides, next came the Santa Claus Parade in Cornwall, ON. Once again, Linus blew me away. He was again my superstar! He put in a seamless performance and lit up so many little faces of the children who got to pet him. I would not trade this fella for the world!

We had a lot of smaller, at home accomplishments too. We started an introduction to barrel racing. I seriously doubt you will ever see us competing in speed events unless it is trail! Linus is funny like that, he gets bored with some of the games etc. Point him towards a trail though and you've suddenly got a whole lot of horse under you who just loves exploring!! Oh what a feeling that is!

Linus is a total pushover when it comes to kids. Especially my son, Owen. They share a mutual admiration of one another. I always thought having a horse who is like this with kids made him worth his weight in gold!

We also got back to some trick training this winter and Linus learned how to bow. We are going to continue working on this and some other tricks throughout the rest of this winter. Currently our footing is horrid! A thick crust is everywhere so the only place to ride is paddock or road. But, that's ok. It just means we will keep busy with groundwork which is something we have always enjoyed anyway!

Today, Linus and I did some work on moving his nose to where I was pointing my stick. It is hard to get a picture of but he did really well putting his head between his legs and side to side. 

Of course, there is always one picture that has to move! We cannot forget our Halloween trail ride where Linus and I carried out an "Ironman" theme. This was also the day we had our first big canter and he did so great! It's hard not smile when you're with this guy!

Thank you all SO much for this amazing 2013 RAC year! I am anxiously awaiting the next one in 2015. 

Linus and I wish you all a healthy, happy and safe 2014!

Hope you all achieve your goals for the new year.

Donna & Linus

Lunenburg, ON