Colorado Starfire
Melissa Thrash

I have loved horses all of my life. When it came time to get my first horse, we could not afford any of the high dollar horses. We came upon an ad in the newspaper and decided to go through with adopting a wild mustang.

I spent a lot of time looking for just the right facility since wild mustangs have such high standards. I remember sitting at dinner with my mom discussing what we would look for when we went. My dream horse was always a black horse with four white feet and a star. So of course that was the priority but very unlikely to happen. Since I am a huge fan of the star mark the chances of me getting a horse with a star mark was high. So we picked the name Starfire and the show name would be Colorado Starfire, since the horse would come from The Little bookcliffes in Grand Junction Colorado. We made the trip to Grand Junction just in time for the observation day. The day you get to see the horses and check in.

To my suprise there was a little black mustang that had four white feet and a star. There was also another horse that had my interest as he was taller. My dad was with us taking pictures of the whole day, and the little one kept following him around trying to get his picture taken. That night I prayed to know which horse to go after. Right away I was filled with the overwelming need and love for the little black horse.

The next day we bid like crazy for him, trying hard not to hover over the bid sheet, but failing. We won that day. Not only did that little horse win a home he also won my heart and was easily dubbed Starfire. After training him to ride myself (which later inspired me to make it my career) we took him to many shows where he easily walked away with the blues. When I started my own horse training business he was my lesson horse.

Because of Starfire I not only love him but I love the breed and the chance that we get to work with these beautiful animals you can bet I will adopt again without a moments hesitation.