Ignore adversity. If it were possible for a horse to have a motivational motto, this might be Beanie’s choice. Despite a life fraught with challenges, the mare has stood tall, both literally and figuratively, and many people have reaped the rewards of her kindness and perseverance.

For nearly two decades, the Masterson Station Park Equestrian Program, located in Central Kentucky, has been administered by Georgia Ockerman, whose responsibilities include finding appropriate mounts for the program. Because its horses must cart around riders of all levels, the main criterion is unequivocal quietness.

In the late 1980s, a horse dealer contacted Ockerman to tell her about a calm mare that might work in the program. When pressed for details, the dealer said the mare had worked for a logging company pulling timbers.

On the day of their introduction, Ockerman was presented with an imposing mare of obvious draft breeding. Always interested in strong, sturdy horses for adult riders, Ockerman agreed to take the mare on trial. She recruited Christine Brown, a college student who was known to her friends as Beanie, to evaluate her temperament and training