About Loretta

Driving back to the hotel that night, Kathy and I were stuck in a dilemma. I called the best horsewoman I know – my girlfriend Sue Amendola – and put her on speakerphone. I told her, “If I’m shopping for a horse for Kathy, it’s Buzz. But if I were shopping for an FEI horse, it would be Loretta.”

Sue didn’t miss a beat. “Then bring them both home,” she said.

Kathy didn’t say no… but we needed a co‑conspirator. Kathy called her daughter, Tara Devine. We managed to convince her it would be a really good idea for her to co-own Loretta (even though Tara really didn’t have much to do with driving… yet.)

The next day we made a deal for both horses, and they came home to the Devine’s home in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts – Buzz as Kathy’s heart horse, and Loretta as the “well, let’s see how far this can go” horse.

Both of them settled into life at the Devine’s quickly and easily. We drove them single and pair frequently, and they took turns being the difficult horse. Whenever Loretta was the challenge, Kathy would point out, “That’s the horse you brought home.” When Buzz was the challenge, I had no trouble returning the phrase.

Loretta has big cat energy. She’s the queen of boundaries: “You may not touch me,” “Scratch me – but only when I want to be scratched,” and “Snuggles happen on my terms and with an appointment.” She’s cute, and she knows it. Sometimes she’ll offer a few brilliant moments of a movement and then… kind of flake out… and act genuinely surprised when we ask for the rest.

Extended trot is the classic example: she’ll give you a few strides that make you feel like you’re on a highlight reel, then her expression says, “I already did that. Why are you asking for more?”

At her core, Loretta loves hard work. She likes challenging, complicated sequences. In obstacles she’d far rather dig into tight turns and hard acceleration than do long straight runs.

She genuinely loves to please her people. Sometimes after the most intense workouts – the kind that weren’t entirely conflict‑free – she’ll turn with her ears up and a bright expression like, “Yeah! We really got that!”

She’s also a thinker. The more she understands a task, the better she gets. Many of her breakthroughs have come from breaking down a coordination into pieces, then building it back into the movement. She’s not just athletic – she’s smart athletic – which, as you can imagine, comes with opinions.

Loretta also loves to pretend to be reluctant to be “caught” in the field when it’s time to work. She may discover something very important to investigate in the furthest corner of the pasture. In the barn, however, the cross ties are mostly decorative (though she has, on occasion, casually walked away when not tied – just to keep everyone humble). Once she’s harnessed and hitched, she’s all business. She watches for everyone to be seated on the carriage and wants to get to work immediately.

And yes, she can be a bit of a know‑it‑all. In cones or dressage patterns she may get impatient or “phone it in.” On an extended trot she may give a few strides of something really nice, then be surprised that we want that for the whole diagonal. “I already did that,” she seems to think. “Why are you asking for more?”

Loretta is one of the easiest horses to have at a competition. She likes venues she knows, but she’s cheery at new places too — just a little more cautious at first.

She finds the jog to be a moderately amusing social event, and rolls her eyes at horses who get overly worked up.

She’s quick to make friends in the barns, falls in love easily… and can replace any man or mare in her heart in about a minute.

She hates being braided, but will stand like a statue for it — and you can’t take the braids out soon enough once they’re no longer needed.

Ya know… Princess stuff.