WATERLOO --- Blue Bayou is finally home.

The 2-year-old, full-blooded gypsy horse has had a long journey to the ASPIRE Therapeutic Riding Program farm, a few miles south of town. He's a donation from the Colorado-based American Gypsy Horse Angel Foundation and its partner, the American Gypsy Horse Breed Association.

Blue was bred by the Gypsy population in the United Kingdom and came to the states in utero. He was born in Arizona and named for his partial blue eyes, taken by his breeders as a sign of good luck. In June, he moved to Fort Collins, Colo., with foster parents Charlie and Jan Cox.

The gelding arrived in Waterloo on Oct. 19 after traveling 830 miles in a trailer.

Marilyn Moore, ASPIRE's executive director, beamed like a new parent as she watched Blue munch on pasture grass.

"Pretty guy, isn't he?" she said. "He's a beautiful black and white."

Gypsy horses typically were sturdy enough to pull their wagon of possessions, and calm enough to live among their families and other animals. These inherent traits and characteristics fill a need at centers like ASPIRE, Charlie Cox said.

But with only an estimated 2,500 in the United States, they're relatively rare --- and expensive. A horse like Blue is worth about $15,000, compared to $1,000 for more common breeds.

"They're so sweet and quiet and calm and forgiving and tolerant and patient," Jan Cox said. "They are so smart and so easy to train, very easy to please. I've never had one bolt."

Blue is only the second horse in the nation to be permanently placed by the Gypsy Angel program.

ASPIRE was a finalist for the first Gypsy Angel horse, Sir Gawaine, who was awarded to the Atlantic Riding Center for the Handicapped in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. Moore reapplied.

"When I got Jan's second e-mail, I said, 'Here we go again,'" Moore recalled about making the short list a second time.

A representative visiting the farm seemed impressed with the level of dedication to ASPIRE, Moore said. He initiated a board meeting over the phone to approve ASPIRE as the recipient of Blue.

"In our house, I have a bedroom and that's it," Moore said. "Everything else is public. We've given up so much of our private space via barn and land and house to do this that it was just overwhelming to him.

"When I opened the Web site and saw Blue Bayou, I started crying," she added, choking up once more. "I had prayed for a horse like this."

Moore has seen pictures of baby Blue and his parents, Sky and Tid's Brother. According to the Web site for Desert Jewel Gypsy Horses in Arizona, Blue was "stallion quality with top bloodlines and breed standard looks." He took the blue ribbon for his class of gypsy geldings at the Continental Divide Horse Show in August.

Blue grew an inch over the summer. He is expected to grow another couple of inches taller over the next two years and will be able to accommodate adult riders next spring.

"We sent him out a little early," Charlie Cox said. "Marilyn said they could take a horse at this age and start training."

Blue has passed his initial vet examination at the farm. While he doesn't prefer stalls, his 14-by-13-foot area in the ASPIRE barn is stocked with water and a salt lick and overlooks miniature horses and ponies, who sniffed at their new buddy's window.

"I choose where my horses go very carefully," Jan Cox said. "(Marilyn) has one of my horses, so we're family now."