June Returns

When I sell a horse for a client, or sell one of my own project horses, I always tell the buyer that if they ever need to return the horse for any reason, she will always have a place at Bit of Honey.  I'm careful who I sell horses to, with checking all kinds of references.  I always make sure it's a good match between the horse and the buyer, that the horse and rider are suitable to each other in personality, abilities, and aspirations.  Because I so carefully vet the buyers, I very rarely have a horse returned to me.  However, it does occasionally happen.  You just never know what the future will bring, whether the person might be in a car accident and can no longer care for the horse, or some other emergency might necessitate that the horse find a new home. 

I don't mind if horses I sell go on to be sold again as they move up the training ladder, but if something were to happen and the horse ever needed a place to go, they will always have a home here at Bit of Honey if they need it. 

Just this week, a mare I sold many years ago returned to me from all the way across the country.  Her owner was having some personal issues and I had the mare shipped back to me from California where they had been living for quite some time.  I was so pleased that she was able to come back to me, since I know about her incredible athleticism and exactly how smart this mare is.

King Poco Junewood, or "June" around the barn, arrived here yesterday afternoon on a huge semi-truck/trailer.  I had her shipped with Bob Hubbard Shipping Company.  I've had good experiences with them as long as the horse is going through one of their regular routes, and California is usually one of those because of so many racetracks there.  Interestingly, they had another horse on this load that had come from Arizona and was headed to Laporte, just about ten miles west of me.

Once June had unloaded I took her to tie by the barn for a couple photos to send to her old owners.  Everyone was relieved she had arrived in good shape and was settling in well.

June is a well bred thirteen year old dun mare with foundation quarter horse bloodlines such as Mr. Junewood, Poco, Driftwood, and Hancock.  She has been trained english and western, both jumping and dressage as well as cow work such as sorting and penning.  June has spent her time with this most recent owner doing lots of trail riding.  She is sound and a lovely mover with smooth gaits.  June is an assertive mare and doesn't suffer fools.  June will need to go to someone that she really likes, who understands she is a one-person horse.

I do plan to begin showing June to potential buyers after she's had a few days to recover from the trip.  I'll be asking $3500 for her, and of course whoever buys her will be another researched and approved home, with another open invitation to bring her back if anything ever went awry.  In the meantime she's enjoying bossing her old friends around in the big paddock, and she'll start teaching some riding lessons with me as she gets acclimated to the altitude here in Colorado after coming from sea level in California! 

June will be for sale at $3500