Pearl was my first horse and there's a rather interesting story behind how that all came about. I have a friend, Nancy, who purchased a horse back around March of '06 and she called me one Saturday morning and asked if I wanted to go horse back riding. I hadn't ridden in close to 20 years or so and jumped at the chance to go. I met her at the ranch and rode around for a while on her Paint horse Stormy

(yeah funny that we ended up with horses with the same name). Of course I fell in love all over again with horses and new I just had to have one. Stormy was wonderful to ride and one of the most beautiful paints I have seen.

I mentioned to a good friend that night that I was thinking about getting a horse although I really couldn't figure out just how I was going to afford one. For those who don't know purchasing a horse is almost and even in some cases more expensive then purchasing a car. They can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand unless you can get lucky enough to get one for free. Generally though horses that are free usually have something very wrong with them and they need lots of extra care. There are those cases as you'll find here though where it's just that they need a good home.

Anyway back to the story. A couple of weeks or so after I told my friend I was considering getting a horse she calls me and asks if I'm still looking for one. I told her I was and she mentioned that one of her employees had one she wanted to sell. As it turns out this employee (Erin) was also a friend of mine. So we talked and she told me she wanted to sell her horse and was going to let me have her for $1,000 including all her tack. Now that's a really good price for a horse that's ride able when you consider that a whole new set of tack (saddle, blanket, bridle and bit) can easily run a couple of thousand dollars or more.

We made plans for me to meet Pearl. Our first attempts to get together fall through and we decided that we'll wait for Erin to get Pearl moved to the equestrian center and she'd call me the day she arrived so I could meet them there. As it turned out the day Pearl arrived I missed Erin’s call so wasn't able to meet her there, I did though go out and meet Pearl with my friend Nancy (the one I blame for starting all this). I immediately fell in love with Pearl.

The next day Sunday April 2, 2006 Erin and I make arrangements for me to meet here at the ranch. When I get there Erin has Pearl out and is riding her around bareback. She asks me if I want to ride and of course I do. So I climb up on Pearl bareback

(something else I haven't done in 20+ years) and ride her around the ranch. What a great way to meet a horse! Pearl was so wonderful I knew that I had to have her. Erin and I decide to go have some breakfast and discuss what we wanted to do. As it turns out Erin really didn't want to sell Pearl and she offered a half lease. Since I really couldn't afford $1,000 at the time this was the perfect opportunity (and something Nancy had suggested to me) for me to get a horse and still be able to afford it. So I said yes. Our agreement was simple, we split everything 50/50 and Erin retained ownership. It was an arrangement that worked perfect for all of us.