Meet Checkered, who is better known as “Charles” around the barn. A young 5-year-old Thoroughbred was bred by Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. His sire is a great racehorse, Blame, and his dam is named Check. Charles has a white blaze on his face and three white socks. This young guy is owned and loved by Kaitlin Christopherson. Kaitlin trains at Elite Sporthorse in Houston, TX with Adrianne Gamboa.
Kaitlin shares her favorite memory with Charles which was the first show they took him to as a four-year-old baby Thoroughbred who had only been jumping for about a month. “We were not expecting much, we just wanted him to get some experience. Well, he got to the show and was a superstar! He’s been impressing us at every show he’s gone to ever since.”
Kaitlin found Charles from a Thoroughbred rehoming program called New Vocations. He was 3-years-old at the time and had only raced once that summer. “I adopted him off of a photo and video, I had not even seen him ridden.” For those who aren’t familiar with the equestrian world – it sounds absolutely crazy to buy something like a horse from a picture or a video without riding it first! It’s kinda like buying a sports car and not test-driving it first, but believe it or not, this is very common! About a month later Charles showed up via Equine Express (which is a horse transporting service – for those who aren’t familiar) and I just remember him getting off the trailer and being the sweetest thing!
Although Kaitlin loves many things about Charles she shares some of her favorite qualities of his which are his sweetness and how incredibly smart he is. Charles loves to give kisses to anyone who comes and says hi to him. His treat of choice is carrots. He will spit out apples or peppermints!
Kaitlin grew up doing 4-H in Brazoria County. Although she came from a non-horsey family, she has always done anything she could to be near horses. She shares her favorite thing about owning horses is how much personal growth they encourage.
