This month’s adoption profile is about an exceptionally special horse – double adjectives intended. This description suits him to a tee.

Rubix came to us after Susan Peirce received a phone call from a concerned friend. Rubix was a retired show horse who had been in pasture for several years. His owners were no longer willing to pay his pasture fees. As happenstance would have it, Susan knew Rubix through his previous career as a show horse, during the years that he gave everything he had to give to the owners who now wished to discard him. He was older, his legs were sore, and he was out of luck and out of time.

Now his story gets extremely interesting. Rubix arrived at his new home at Red Bucket only a few days before shooting started on Emma’s Chance, the beautiful feature length movie shot at Red Bucket under the direction of Anna Elizabeth James. Because of his impeccable background, Rubix was called on once more to be a star and to perform at his best, even after being out of practice for so long. He did many of the jumping scenes in the movie, and was the only one of the three horses that played Chance that Greer Grammar, the star of the movie, learned to ride on. He was a perfect gentleman; kind and patient, rock solid, gentle, and oh so steady. He performed like a champ throughout the filming of the movie.

But now it was time for Rubix to go back into retirement, this time for good. Tracey Keiser and her wonderful husband, Bob, stepped up and offered the most wonderful home to Rubix, (and several of our other Red Bucket horses). Tracey first met Rubix when she was a team member at Red Bucket, serving our horses as a member of the feed crew. She fell hard for this personable, charming, funny horse who loves people so much. Rubix is now happily living a dream life that would never have been possible if Red Bucket had not stepped up to save him when he needed a miracle. Along with his good friend Logan, now in their new adoptive home, they have daily room service, and are adored and spoiled. Rubix will forever be immortalized on the cover of “his” movie, Emma’s Chance. This trustworthy, calm, willing horse got to shine as a star one more time during the filming process, and earned the trust and admiration of cast and crew alike…. and made us all scratch our heads and wonder why he could possibly be scheduled to be thrown away. But now, Bob and Tracey offered him a forever home at their beautiful new ranch.

Tracey is a vibrant personality who can’t say enough wonderful things about Rubix. His best friend at his new home is a beautiful Dutch-bred Friesian gelding named Heath, who, even though he is much younger than Rubix, has taken it upon himself to be his guardian. He watches over Rubix while he sleeps, and runs and plays with him every day. They are so active that Tracey swears Rubix feels at least five years younger! His legs are young again, he loves to buck during his turnouts, and is the first one to want to go out on trail and explore everything when the opportunity arises. He is always inquisitive to see new things, and walks the entire perimeter of his 22-acre home at

least once a day with the ranch staff. And of course he still gets his special bucket of treats and supplements every night, just like he did at Red Bucket.

Tracey and Bob’s barn has stalls that have orthopedic foam under the rubber stall mats. Then they pile on an abundance of fragrant shavings for bedding. Tracey laughs and calls Rubix spoiled and entitled as he roots through his fresh bedding, slowly inhaling the sweet smell of the shavings with a dreamy look on his face. He thrives on a routine that is specific only to him, which includes a long nap in the middle of the day in his huge stall, while Heath watches over him, just as he does all night long while Rubix snores the night away. It takes lots of rest for an older horse to be able to keep up with a youngster all day every day, trotting, cantering, and bucking to their hearts’ content.

Tracey says Rubix loves his face rubbed and his muzzle kissed, and will close his eyes and stand still as long as you are willing to love on him. However, when relaxed, he is a drooler, and needs a bit of tidying up from time to time.

Rubix does have other non-equine buddies at the ranch; Tracey and Bob’s rescued greyhounds and tiny chi X terriers. He is mesmerized by their antics and loves to watch them play in the barn every evening. He never takes his eyes off them and is totally enthralled, while all the other horses just ignore the pups.

Jenon Mathes, Red Bucket’s Director of Equine Care, Team Training and Safety Officer, has many fond memories of Rubix. She says that he was so well trained and confident that he was always willing to coach a rider and let you know when you were doing something wrong, and then make you dig deep to recall the tools you needed to communicate adequately as you rode. He would encourage you to be your best every day and make you realize that you, the human, needed to use your best communication skills at all times to get things done correctly. She says Rubix would respond very quickly to any cues you used, and really challenged you to figure out what he was trying to tell you. All while being the rock steady perfect gentleman, a perfect gentleman who has now found his perfect forever home.

Talk about your happy endings for a former movie star!