This is my baby Southern Moonshine  ...AKA- Moon, Moonie, Moonpie, Moonbeam, BabyBoy ...ect :-)  Moon is a 9 year old, 15.3hh TB/QH. My parents bought Moon for me on February 6, 1999 as a last resort to keep me from giving up riding forever.  Just 6 short days before, my horse Mac had been hit and killed by a truck.  Still recovering from the accident, I was contemplating giving up riding because the pain of losing a horse that had meant more than the world to me was just too much.  My mom talked me into looking through the ads just to see what was available.  We saw one that sounded promising and within our price range and called for an appointment.  We went to see him the next evening. It was lightly raining and he was standing in a round pen with an over-sized blanket on, long scraggly mane, and a tail that was in a complete knot.  When we got out of the car and went over to the roundpen, he brightened up completely when he saw people coming, trotted over to where we were, put his head on my chest and his nose in my hands. I knew right then that this was destined to be my horse.  He has just turned 5 and had no formal traning at all and had apparently been starved and neglected.  I got on him and trotted him around a bit...I didn't even canter him. I did't care how he moved, I didn't even care if he could jump...all I knew was that this was my horse.  We bought him and took him home the next day. We spent the first couple of weeks just trotting around in a little circle while I was trying to convince him not to try to run away with me!  But after that first couple of weeks, something seemed to click and it all came together.  He turned out to be an "A" class mover with a huge stride for his size, and a willing, brave, and consistent (he's never refused a fence) jumper.  My proudest moment came just 4 short months after buying him.  It was our first really big show at the Raleigh Hunt Complex.  In the Green Working Hunter o/f class we got a 9th place out of 85 riders!! In the hack class, we got an 8th out of 92 riders!! That started our hunter/jumper career together. He is also extremely versatile.  We have competed in horse trials together, we competed in the Moore County Hunter Pace in 2000 and our team placed 3rd out of 26 teams, and he is also a wonderful trail horse. I thank my parents everyday for buying this wonderful animal for me, he truly did keep me from giving up riding forever.  He has also taught me more than any other horse about trust and the ultimate partnership that comes between a horse and his rider.  He was destined to help me and I was destined to help him...he will never be sold...we will never be parted.