When Kaaren Lebert of Enfield, Nova Scotia, started looking for a new horse, she knew what she wanted. Her ideal horse would be not too old, but not too young, not too big, but not too small and it had to be tough enough for Competitive Trail Riding. It also had to have that special quality that would make it her horse. That's the tough part. How do you explain that to someone else?

Kaaren tried out several horses that should have been fine, but that special quality was missing. Finally, she went to look at a five-year-old part Morgan called Virginian Magic. The smile that came over her face as she rode him for the first time told the friend that had accompanied her, that this horse had "it", whatever "it" was!

Kaaren was told that Magic was the first foal born by Constant of Quietude, a Morgan stallion that had been imported from West Virginia by the Salsmans of Beinn Bhreagh Morgans in the Annapolis Valley. His dam was a grade mare that was half-Arabian and the other half being a mixture of Standardbred and undetermined breeds. Kaaren's daughter, Breagh, thought that this was the horse for her mother if for no other reason than the name of the farm where he was born! Kaaren obviously though so too, so she bought him and took him home to Enfield.

Shortly after buying Magic, Kaaren wrote me to introduce herself and tell me that she had purchased Magic. I wrote back, telling her a little of Magic's history, something about his sire and dam, and enclosed some pictures of Magic as a foal and his parents, Constant and Feldie.

The next Spring, Kaaren dropped in to visit me one afternoon. As soon as the greetings were over, she asked if a lady in her area had ever owned Feldie. Kaaren had called her after she got my letter and between them they figured that the Feldie they knew would certainly be too old to be Magic's mother, but sure enough, it was the same horse! As it turned out, Kaaren had ridden Feldie a lot when she was a teenager. She was now riding Magic on some of the same trails that she had ridden his mother all those years ago.

The next time I saw Kaaren was at the Nova Scotia Morgan Show in Truro on Labor Day weekend. She handed me an envelope that contained a newspaper clipping. The Canadian Trail Riding Championships had been held in Stewiacke the month before and who had won the One Day Trail Ride but Kaaren and Magic in his very first competitive trail ride!

Since that day, Kaaren and Magic have gone on to have many successes including placing well every year in the Morgan Trail Sweepstakes and many Competitive Trail Rides.

For me the hardest part of breeding horses is parting with the foals. Once they leave your farm you have no control over their destiny. I have no worries about Magic. He and Kaaren have formed a partnership that was meant to be.