The Equine Comeback Challenge gives each horse ninety days with a trainer to be educated and transformed into a riding horse. The horses will then be presented at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in March of 2016 in a riding competition which will demonstrate their new training as well as showcase just how marketable these rescue horses are. The horses will be available to purchase after the event in Denver. There also is a Comeback Challenge which happened on the East Coast in October the past two years.
The first Challenge happened at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in Denver, CO in March of 2014. That year I worked with Mountain Valley Horse Rescue who gave me a sweet 20 year old Percheron cross mare named Grace. She had been a PMU mare and came to me only barely halter broke. I trained her, presented her at the expo at the National Western Complex, and shortly after that she was adopted by wonderful woman named Marleen. They are enjoying their happily ever after with trail rides in the mountains near Vail, CO.
In its second year, I was able to do the Equine Comeback Challenge as an exhibition ride in 2015. I worked with CANTER Colorado who provided me with a retired racehorse. Doit's Cat was a three year old Thoroughbred, too slow to race, who had narrowly missed being sent to slaughter and was donated to CANTER instead. Dewey's mellow temperament and eager-to-please personality made it possible for me to train him and present him at the expo in March despite my back surgery that January. Several months later one of my clients purchased him, and now Rebecca and Dewey are enjoying their happily ever after right here at Bit of Honey Training. Dewey lives here and is even in training with me this month while Rebecca takes regular riding lessons on him.
For 2016 I'll be an exhibition ride once again. This year I'm working with Northstar Horse Rescue, a nonprofit 501(c)3 that recently relocated from Maine to Pagosa Springs, CO. My horse for this Equine Comeback Challenge is Touch A Prince, a chestnut OTTB gelding. He was bred by Adena Springs and sold as a two year old in 2006 for $55,000. He last raced in 2009 in Massachusetts, my own home state, and over the course of his racing career and 26 starts he won $58,481. The woman who took him after he was done racing loved him, but his boisterous and pushy temperament outstripped her own skills and she was unable to do much with him. As a result he spent approximately six years living in a pasture, and now is a 15.3 hand eleven year old whose only under saddle training is from the track. When his owner was no longer able to care for him she donated him to Northstar Horse Rescue who did ground work with him, and now he will be headed my way to train for the 2016 Equine Comeback Challenge.
Touch A Prince is coming to me at an ideal time. I've been casually and quietly looking in my local area, online, and in forums for a new project horse for myself, but my requirements are specific. Because I want something very undesirable to the average buyer, I'm looking in a very low price range for a sound, mature horse who has little to no training. I wanted something old enough that he is physically mature and I could really start working him hard without concern for growth spurts. On the other hand, I also want a horse who doesn't know anything about jumping or dressage so I can teach him the eventing game in whichever way he'll best understand, and I don't have to undo training from anyone else. Periodically the universe seems to send me the horses I really want, and it has impeccable timing. Touch A Prince fits all my requirements. I'm excited to meet this guy and discover what he likes to do.
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