Elegant’ resides in Fairfax, CA with owner Mae and trainer Pam Andrews at Baywood Canyon Equestrian Center. He is a 9 year old dapple grey gelding. He is a Pura Raza Espanola, which is a pure Spanish Andalusian. Mae and Elegante enjoy competing in dressage and trail riding together
I was so excited to finally meet Elegante after talking to his owner Mae over the phone, the way she described him I was picturing a real life unicorn and he did not disappoint. Elegante is sort of a giant teddy bear disguised as a horse, he is so incredibly kind and loves to snuggle. It was hard for me to stop loving on him, because there is something about him that is magical when he rests his nose on you. I always say horses have this way of calming our souls, and Elegante has a special way about him, that totally melts your heart.
One of Mae’s favorite memories was when she showed Elegante after not showing for 20 years and it would be his first show ever. Placing second in their first class left them exhausted and Mae could not imagine going into their second class, however, her motivation to push through lead both of them to winning first together in that class.
They continue to work on trust building having only had each other for a little over 2 years. One of Mae’s funny memories of his stubborn side was when she introduced him to the wash rack. She recalls needing to walk him in and out 25-30 times to assure him that the big ole wash rack wouldn’t hurt him, as he hated water at the time. The session ended happily with no hesitation to trust Mae and Elegante let out a big ole’ sigh.
Mae will never forget the sweet moment when she first met him and after trying him out she walked away for only a moment… upon coming back, she looks over and sees Elegante resting his head in her daughters arms and is cuddling her for nearly 20 minutes straight. Little did they know this was a glimpse into the future of his spontaneous desire to be cuddled at random. Even though he has lots of fire, he has a soft heart hiding underneath the brio.
