I didn’t grow up with horses, but have always had an innate love for them. We moved to the country five years ago to a home we hope to raise our girls in and stay for the rest of our lives. It came with a barn, pastures, and lots of fencing. Perfect! At the time, we didn’t have anyone to fill the four stalls, but my girls have a love of animals, especially our youngest.

As you can imagine, after a couple years our barn wasn’t empty anymore. We had two horses and were ready to start looking for a third. I had heard about a woman doing remarkable work in Cambridge, Ohio. Julie Copper, owner and founder of Copper Horse Crusade, is on a mission. Every Friday, Julie and her team are at the auction working to save slaughter bound horses. Through tough decisions she determines which ones to bring home; then she vets them, cares for them, trains them, gets to know them and places them in homes that are the right match for the horse and rider. I thought to myself, “we have to meet this woman”. We contacted Julie, set up an appointment, and went to visit her.

We were looking for a horse for our girls to ride on and to take trail riding. One of the great things I learned about Julie is that she’s honest. I didn’t have to worry about asking 100 questions and hoping the truth would be told. She wants to find the right home, thus saving the horse’s life and securing it’s future. Julie told us about the horses she had, which would be good for us, and which would not. We went back a few days later and brought home our first CHC horse, Angel. She’s a palomino paint and knows her job. She doesn’t like arena work, but does great on the trails, and is the horse my oldest daughter calls her own.

With the addition of Angel, we had three horses but four riders. About six months later, we contacted Julie again and told her we were looking for one more horse. And of course, we wanted to adopt a horse from her. Why wouldn’t we? This time though, I was looking for a horse for me. And Julie came through. She didn’t have a good match when I first contacted her, but I told her I would wait. I wasn’t in a hurry and knew it would work out. Sometime later, Julie let me know she had a horse that she thought would be a good fit for me. I was over the moon excited and couldn’t wait to go back to visit.

And guess what? Julie was right. JoJo is the right horse. And to think she would have taken the last trailer ride of her life, if it hadn’t been for Julie and her team doing what they do. I’m so thankful. Our barn is now full, and we are having fun camping, trail riding and making lots of memories.

What #RightHorse means to me