Pictures

some of the big boys grazing; it looks like Tony, Homer, Chance, Hemi, Ivan and Apollo

Not that you can really see them but this is Baby and Elfin.

Levendi and Thomas

hard to see them again but this is Baby, Levendi, Grand, Hemi and Homer

Apollo, Thomas and Hemi

Tony and Chance

Homer

Lightening

Justin

Fuzzy, Chili, Murphy, Dutch and Wiz

Wiz playing in the water trough; a favorite pastime of his

and then showing me his wet face

Norman and Lexi

Buster!

Cuffie up to his pony wiles again, this time with B-Rad

and the ears go back and the teeth come out!

Jo, one of the World's Cutest Fainting Goats

Winston, Asterik and Romeo hanging out

MyLight, Harmony and Cuffie eating breakfast

Faune and Romeo

Alex and B-Rad are big friends

Romeo

Romeo is a handsome bay Dutch Warmblood gelding who joined us from Connecticut for retirement. Romeo is owned and dearly loved by a wonderful family who absolutely adore him. As all financially astute parents do they tried to find a way to not have to own a horse while still finding a way for their daughter to ride. Jason and I both laughed out loud when the mom told us a story about buying their daughter a saddle instead of a horse, hoping that would make her happy. My dad happened to hear this story as well and was almost shouting "Bravo!" at their ingenuity. He will tell anyone who will listen that buying me my first pony was the worst financial decision of his life.

Romeo with his mom

As you might have guessed by now buying the saddle did not prevent them from entering into horse ownership. They bought their daughter a horse and everyone was happy. Unfortunately their first horse had to be euthanized after a long and drawn out illness. The trainer felt it was important that their daughter get right back up on a horse to help her cope with the loss. Romeo happened to be in the barn and his owner was unable to ride often, so she began riding Romeo.

Romeo

She said she had told her trainer that she wanted her next horse to be fast with a big personality. As it turned out this described Romeo to a "T" and her parents purchased Romeo for her. They began their adventures together in the jumper ring and she showed Romeo under the name of Kismet, because she said the barn owner once remarked to her that it was kismet that Romeo happened to be in the barn and in need of a rider immediately after the loss of her first horse.

Romeo taking a run around the paddock

She and Romeo both loved showing in the jumpers. They also dabbled a bit in equitation but as she said they both got a bit bored with the slower pace of things in the hunter/equitation ring. Although Romeo is a big guy she said he could turn on a dime and was very fast, yet also very respectful and never tried to pull her around a course.


My favorite thing about Romeo outside of his fabulous personality is his expression. He has these big ears and they tend to give him a happy, goofy look. Regardless of what he is doing Romeo's ears and expressions tend to look very similar. This is illustrated in the pictures below.

Romeo hanging out in the pasture. His left ear is off to the side and his right ear is forward.

Jason and I both laughed out loud when we first saw this picture. It is a great picture of Romeo and his mom in action at the Ocala winter circuit but look at the expression. His left ear is off to the side and his right ear is forward. It is just so him ALL the time, be it flying over a jump or hanging out in the pasture!

Another of Romeo's big joys in life is food. If you give him an apple he tries to suck the juice out of the slice before chewing and swallowing it. When he is eating breakfast and dinner he sometimes looks like he is going to suck his cheeks all the way into his mouth. Since we feed everyone wet feed he goes to town trying to suck all of the water out of the feed before swallowing.

Romeo and Asterik


Romeo with Faune and Winston

Unsurprisingly with his laid back personality Romeo has taken well to retirement and pretty much acts like he owns the place. He loves being a part of a family group with other horses and tends to be right in the middle of everyone. We hope you've enjoyed getting to know Romeo!

Wedding Day

It was definitely not an ordinary day around the farm today. Our friends Erica and Chris from Minnesota were married at the farm today. In addition to friends and family they also had several dogs and horses participate in the festivities (they invited themselves of course!).


Between the rehearsal dinner and then the wedding we're pretty sure the dogs wish we would get into the business of hosting weddings. The dogs were very polite and did not jump on people and try to steal food. Instead they just worked the crowd and made their rounds and as a result they were all well rewarded with several treats of steak and chicken throughout the weekend.


The horses were very curious about the goings on as well and spent a lot of time hanging out at the fences watching everything. Faune tried to eat one of the bridesmaid's flowers. I'm sure he thought it was a nice touch.


Erica and Chris are both wonderful people with an amazing life together ahead of them. We're thrilled we were able to be a part of their special day. Congratulations to Erica and Chris from ALL of your friends at the farm!

the bridesmaids hanging out before the ceremony

the bride and her father waiting to make their entrance
me getting Erica's train ready

the wedding party

the kiss; that is my Dad behind them, he was the wedding officiant (former county commissioner)

the horses were in the background of a lot of the pictures

the groomsmen and Chris hanging out between pictures

the horses had many admirers

the bride and two of her three attendants are all avid horse people

Faune serving as "background" for the bride and her maid of honor

the groomsmen leaning against the fence and having a relaxing moment

the horses were curious about the tent

Bush spent a lot of time hanging out with the caterers

Bush making another round of the guests

He made sure he spread the love around

the cake

Bear spent most of the last few days being passed around from person to person

he thought it was great

I'm sure he thought every one had come to see him

Trooper on the right sitting up politely waiting for someone to notice (and reward) him. Since he only has three legs (missing a front leg) he gets the sympathy factor going right away when he sits up - and he knows it!

Busy Weekend

We've had a lot of activity around the farm this weekend, even more than usual. Please enjoy the pictures and I'll find the time to type something interesting soon. This blog exists for pictures anyway!

Maisie and Lily grooming each other

Winston and Faune

Fuzzy Punch

Cuffie has been breaking in the new group of geldings on the other side of the fence since they big boys moved. He is such a pony. First he acts all cute and sweet and innocent. "Hi Alex, I'm Cuff Links. Let's play!" Then he'll bite them on the nose or do something equally ponyish.

Cuffie and Alex again

Then Cuffie moved on to Ogie; look at those cute, pricked ears

And then the ears go back and the teeth come out!

Justin and Wiz grazing

Dutch and Murphy

B-Rad striking a pose

B-Rad and Ogie

Lily and Cuffie hanging out in the shed