ACTHA Monthly | June 2015 |21
Peruvian Horse
Leah Coffman has Peruvian horses.
This is the story of one of them, EVp Quixoté (Qui), who was labeled a “dangerous, stupid, worthless horse that would never amount to anything” by his breeder and first owner. Leah and Qui have proven that statement wrong many times over in many venues.
When arthritic knees made it impossible to continue riding her Arab gelding, Leah knew she needed to find a different breed of horse if she hoped to continue riding. She’d met her first Peruvian horse on a dude ranch in Washington state. From what she could tell, the Peruvian breed had the people-oriented personality of the Arabian with a floating gait that looked extremely smooth, no more trotting or posting.
An ad appeared in a local paper on June 2001 for a 2-year-old Peruvian gelding. He was a gawky, scrawny little thing, and obviously afraid of his owner who believed in the ‘cowboy-style’ breaking of horses. Leah found out later that every time the owner would try to force Quixoté to do something, the horse would rebel, fighting back. But there was something about the horse that called to her. Leah looked into Quixote’s eyes and knew, “He’s the one.” And the saga began.
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