This beautiful eight year old Arabian came to me as a young three year old. You see, he was bred for “Arabian” racing, but like so many he wasn’t exactly what the owner wanted. He was discarded like an old tire, like so many unwanted horses who just don’t “fit the bill”. Brave Spirit was lucky enough to find his way to a small ranch in Southern California. The “killer buyer” visited the ranch asking the rancher what he wanted for him. The rancher told him he wasn’t for sale, not letting him know he was looking for a good home for Brave Spirit. He knew the fate of this horse if he had sold him to that man.

Back then I was volunteering at a wild horse sanctuary in California and had rescued two mustangs from the “kill pens”. The hauler was the man who had this wonderful Arabian. He said to me “this is one special horse, he is so sweet and only needs a job to do”. I decided to give him a home, and had him delivered with the two mustangs.

Spirit ran with the wild horses for the next 3 ½ years of his life. While he was at the wild horse sanctuary, he helped heal children through the Youth at Risk program, allowing the children to ride on his back, brush him and even let them paint him as a therapeutic method of having the children tell their stories through creative expression.

Spirit helped me get reacquainted with horses after being away from them for so many years. He has changed my life forever, and has taught me so much. He really was a horse that “just needed a job to do”, his job today is partnering with Big Bud to take care of our four rescued PMU babies Gulliver, Bella Luna, Harkies Deuce and Spanky.