I bought Cassidy in early 2004 – he was ~18 months old. Super gangly – his dam died about 4 days after he was born, so he was a bottle baby – and spoiled to death but also incredibly sweet. His Dam was a Trakehner Dressage mare and his Sire was a Purebred Champion Arabian Dressage Stallion. The breeder felt Caz’s neck was too short to compete in dressage – so that’s how I ended up with him.

I spent years just brushing, grooming and teaching him horse manners before I could even have him trained for riding (Arabians mature late). I couldn’t afford a high-end training situation, so I put him through school in one of the training programs in the Agricultural College at Ohio State – a 6 week program; and I took it from there.

It took us a lot of work to get into a steady riding relationship. He was a bit high-falutin’ and we had to tackle every single “scary” obstacle one by one for the first 3 years or so; everything from bridges, to water, to flying objects and bicycles. I nearly died the first time I got lost on a trail and pulled a bright white map out of my back pocket – Caz was gone before I had it 1/2-way opened.