Borencio, “Nico”, is a 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. This handsome guy is a dark bay with the most gorgeous light dapples, a heart-shaped star on his face, and two white socks on his left front foot and left hind foot. Nico is ridden and owned by Brooke Murray who trains with Kalli Smith & Amy Gangstad at Monarch Stables in Austin, TX.

One of Brooke’s favorite memories of Nico was out on the cross-country field in Kentucky. “Nico has always loved his trail rides so when it was time to explore the cross country field of the Kentucky Horse Park for the first time I knew it would be memorable. I spent an hour walking, trotting, and cantering all through the field and Nico was all for it.”

Brooke has owned Nico for 2 and a half years now. “While trying horses in 2017 we came across an ad for Nico. At the time Nico was too much horse and far too advanced for what I was looking for. Eventually, we found Olaf who we sadly had to put down around a year after buying him due to complications from a colic surgery he received shortly after we bought him. Due to this, it was time to look for horses again and after seeing the same ad for Nico 2 years later we knew we had to try him first before looking any further. From the minute I sat on him I knew he was the one.”

Nico isn’t particular when it comes to his favorite treat, but he loves the Starbucks mango dragonfruit refresher.

Brooke has been riding for about 7 years. She was introduced to the sport by a babysitter back in the day who had a home and some horses. She fell in love with them once she was introduced and hasn’t looked back since.