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2010
"Echo"
Marcia Michel

I got Echo just after Labor Day twenty-two years ago. He was three years old. I remember looking at him and wondering if he would ever grow big enough for me to ride; his chest was so small. He cost me $500.00. I took him home and rode him for a week and as much as I tried, I could not find anything wrong with him. He had been raised by a young lady who had to let him go as she was heading off to college.

Since that time we have had many adventures together. We have traveled and ridden in seven states, across flat lands, hills, rivers and in the high country of Virginia's mountains where we for rode for 45 miles one day (thank goodness we rode with some "local" riders or we never would have made it home).

Just to tell you a couple stories... While riding in the Ocala Forest, I got separated from the group...riding that day is one I will never forget. As I trotted Echo, he went into a "floating trot". I felt like he and I were floating and that somehow his feet never touched the ground. I was very unhappy when the group found us. Echo never took me floating over the ground again. During the last several years, when riding Echo, he slips into a running walk. It's another wonderful gait, but unlike the first story, where I only experienced the "floating trot' once ...the "running walk" has been my gait of choice for many years.

Echo is semi-retired now as he had a bad leg injury several years ago. When we use him, he wears a support on his back leg and if you look closely you will see that the shoe on his left hoof is backwards