Amy, Aria & Wish | Legacy Stables, NJ | The Golden Years Project

A project that was started in 2022, had some major twists and turns, and took multiple years to finish – that’s The Golden Years Project in a nutshell. My idea was to honor horses 30 years and older, and tell their stories while they lived out their golden years in their forever homes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to photograph every horse, as some of the horses passed away before I was able to work with them. The project kind of stalled, and I put it on the back burner for a bit.

Out of the blue, I received an email from someone – a friend of a participant named Amy whose horse Spirit passed away suddenly, before I was able to photograph him. Spirit was Amy’s beloved grey Arabian gelding, her trail riding partner, her best friend through her teenage years and beyond. Spirit passed away in the summer of 2022. When Amy’s friend Bella reached out to me in 2023, Amy’s beloved mare Aria had just had a baby, Wish, and Bella asked if there was any way to honor Spirit by photographing Aria and her baby. Wish came into Amy’s life after the loss of Spirit, and her birth was such a meaningful and special event. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to work with Amy and her mare, Aria, and her new baby, Wish.

It started raining during our shoot, which was a bit of a bummer, but then the most gorgeous, vivid rainbow appeared right above Aria and Wish. It was almost like Spirit was there with us in that moment. It was such a beautiful shoot with such amazing people and horses.

Thank you so much, Bella, for reaching out and helping facilitate this incredible session with Amy and her girls. I’m always excited to come back to Legacy Stables, and I had such a wonderful time with everyone yet again!

Amy, Aria & Wish — and in memory of Spirit | Legacy Riding Stables, Sayreville, NJ

Horse: Spirit | Arabian gelding | Born January 1, 1985 | Passed away summer 2022 | Legacy Riding Stables, Sayreville, NJ

Photographed: Aria (Arabian mare) and Wish (Arabian mule, born June 10, 2023)

Discipline: Trail riding

A bit about Aria and Wish…

In 2015 I pulled Aria from a kill pen, she was 7 years old, not saddle broke and had been a broodmare. My lifelong dream was a solid bay Arabian mare, and it was like she came straight out of a dream for me. In working with her, I discovered a horse who was filled with intelligence, grace and willingness [and] I couldn’t believe I had been lucky enough to find her. I had always been drawn to endurance and had just started getting into it when my son was born. In 2022 I realized [my son] was getting old enough [for me to try endurance], and I loved Aria enough that I would love a baby from her to be my next endurance mount. So, I decided to breed her. I wanted to breed her to a donkey, since mules excel so much in endurance and terrain, so an Arabian mule would be an excellent choice. I spent a few months picking my sire, and found Rockstar’s Oklahoma’s Hawk in Oregon. I spoke to his family and realized just how perfect a choice he was; he was athletic, sweet, loving and calm – all the traits I was looking for. Bonus – he was black (as I wanted my mule to be bay with no white, just like their mom was). I was so excited when I got the news Aria was pregnant, although I did unfortunately lose my first horse love, and long time heart horse Spirit that same summer (before I was able to have my photoshoot with him). He will never be forgotten or replaced, but I’m grateful for the joy I was also able to find in a new life coming.

Fast forward to June 10, 2023 my sweet baby mule was born! Her name is When You Wish Upon a Star (Wishy) and she is a perfect bay molly mule with no white! Aria was (and still is) as in love with her as I am! She follows in her mothers graceful and intelligent steps with her dad’s absolute sweet and loving side. I couldn’t have asked for more!

How it all started…

I began riding Spirit in my teens as my guide horse for a barn in Piscataway where I volunteered. I fell in love with him almost instantly. I was with him for 10 years there before life took me in a different direction and I lost touch. I never stopped thinking about him.

I was so fortunate that my good friend Brittani would buy the farm where he was owned years later. She knew my connection to him — we had worked together in Piscataway — and I was lucky enough that she gave him to me eight years ago. That was definitely the best gift ever.

Our highest point…

The highest point was of course the day Brittani gifted him to me. After all the years of missing him and wishing for him, he was actually mine.

But the memories go back much further than that. Spirit was like my best friend in my teens. I spent hours on his back and he was there patiently listening through everything — from my emotional teenage years through getting married. I remember cantering through the trails letting my teenage stress fly away. I remember playing freeze tag through the woods, and he learned the game so well that I could put the reins behind the horn and just start tagging people, because he took care of the rest. And boy did he have fun playing.

He knew what I needed. As excitable as he could be, he knew when I was sad. We would run through the trails and then stop, take off all our tack, and he’d let me lay on him bareback while he ate grass — his calm breathing and chewing making everything feel better again.

I also loved that he knew the difference between me and small children. He would stand perfectly still for the little camp kids to paint murals on him — yes, actually paint — but the moment I hopped on, he was ready to go.

Our lowest point…

As much as I loved gifting him everything I possibly could in his older, semi-retired years, I also got his toughest years. He loved to run and go in the woods, but he would be sore the next day because he simply didn’t want to slow down. It was very hard to watch him ache. It was also hard to tell him we needed to take it easy, when in the moment he couldn’t understand why we weren’t just out to have fun.

Where we are now…

Spirit was never an easy horse. He was energetic and very smart, and I thank him all the time for everything he taught me. I could not be the horsewoman I am today without everything we went through together.

Spirit passed away in the summer of 2022. We never got the chance to photograph him together. But life has a way of moving forward — and in June of 2023, Arya’s foal Wish came into the world. A new beginning, in the year after loss.

I wish everyone could be blessed to have such an amazing best friend. Honestly, I do.

Thank you to Amy for trusting me to tell Spirit’s story, even though he couldn’t be here for it. And welcome to the world, Wish — what a beautiful life you will have.