Winter coats shedding in clumps, forming a layer of furry clouds on the ground. Horses grazing in the sunshine, their heads barely visible atop the lush green grass dotted with colorful flowers. These are welcome signs that spring is in the air, but there’s one sure sign of spring that brightens the heart of every horse girl — babies!

This little guy is the first of many to be born in the coming months at The Grace Foundation, a rescue organization in the foothills west of the Sierra Mountains, where horses, dogs and other critters find a new lease on life. Some of them come to The Grace Foundation with more life already in the works, like mama mare Bonny.

Bonny is a sweet draft horse who was rescued from horrible starving conditions that also put her baby’s health at risk. She was nursed back to health at The Grace Foundation and on March 23rd she gave birth to a healthy, A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E colt!

In partnership with The Grace Foundation, I’m involved with a new volunteer effort, the Friendly Trails Rescue Training Project. This unique program pairs youth leaders with rescued horses for rehabilitation and training. The goal is to take “unadoptable” horses and teach them the skills they need to get adopted into loving, forever homes.

The first horse, Crispen, arrived at Friendly Trails on December 21st. Crispen is a five year-old mustang who grew up in the wild, but through a series of unfortunate circumstances ended up in an even more unfortunate situation. Watch the video below to learn more about Crispen’s story.

Because of Friendly Trails and The Grace Foundation, Cripsen got a second chance, and with the skill and patience of his youth training coordinator, he’s making BIG strides toward becoming comfortable with humans and other scary things (like ropes and saddles).

I hope you’ll visit FriendlyTrails.com and follow the blog as we share stories of Crispen and other horses in the rescue training project.

♥