Spirit's Journey - Tommy's Colt from the 2008 Road to the Horse Competition

For every horse enthusiast familiar with the familiar with the legendary Road to the Horse event, which gives three clinicians three hours to break a previously untouched horse - one question always looms. "What happens to the colts after the event?"

Clinician Tommy Garland, a competitor at the 2008 Road to the Horse event is doing his part to answer that question through a series of YouTube videos chronicling the training progress of his colt from the competition. Garland purchased the colt from Woods Quarter Horses in Heber Springs , Arkansas after the first day of competition at this year's Road to the Horse. His son, TJ promptly dubbed the colt Spirit in honor of the Disney character to which he bears a striking resemblance. Garland says the name fits.

"This colt has a lot of heart and try for a young horse. So, I think Spirit is actually a pretty good name for him," says Garland .

The four YouTube videos which show Garland with the colt the day after the competition, a month after the competition and 6 weeks after the competition have already racked up more than 4,000 views. Perhaps the most impressive is the first of the series, showing a road weary Garland riding the colt bareback just hours after returning home from the competition.

Garland pledges to keep up with the YouTube progress reports on the colt, clear through to next year's competition, where he'll be competing against John Lyons and Richard Winters. "We've already received such a great response from the public. First from our participation at Road to the Horse and now from Spirit's training progress. Something about this little horse has really ignited people's interest. I certainly understand it, because I think he has tremendous potential and I myself can't wait to see what the future holds for him," says Garland.

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