Our Real Horses

We love our real horses like members of our family. We don't get to ride as much as we'd like, but we do spend a lot of time with them. They are a very pampered herd!

Cinders is a Purebred Percheron mare we rescued from a PMU farm in Canada as a 2 1/2 year old. She was in foal to a reg. Thoroughbred named Equistone, and gave birth to a colt we named Bandero. Cinders is our princess. She is 17 hands tall and her mane and tail once swept the ground. Over the years, it became too much for me to deal with so I eventually had to trim it all short. She is a precious, silly girl who loves attention and gets into everything.

Cinderella

Indigo

Of all the horses we've owned, Indigo has to be the most unique and interesting. We adopted him from a PMU/meat farm in Canada when he was only 4 months old. His mother was a Clydesdale/Norwegian Fjord cross while his father was a pure bred Brabant Belgian. Despite all the big horses in his ancestry, Indigo remained a modest 15.2 hands. We raised him from colt-hood until he was about 10 years old. I "did everything" with him except formal training. He was ridable of course and pretty much fearless. Everything was a fun game to him. He was beyond smart and a deep thinker. At one point, we sent him to my niece, Charity Doherty, for official cow-horse training. He loved chasing cows but didn't particularly want to be a 'cowboy horse'. He wanted ( and deserved) an interesting and fulfilling life. So, in 2020, Indigo went to live with Lisa Bacon and her family. Lisa has been a God-send for Indigo, full of fun and adventure almost every day. Indigo gets to do things I could only dream of doing with him. We miss him but we are SO happy for him.

Little Ricky

Little Ricky is our old man of the herd. As of this writing, he's almost 30 years old. Ricky is a reg. Peruvian Paso, only 13.2 hands. He's officially retired, but on his day, he was a force to be reckoned with! Strong, natural gait and so full of "Brio". We bought him as an unbroken colt and trained him ourselves. He was easy. Always a gentleman and always wanted to please. Now-a-days, Ricky has the run of the place but he prefers the company of the humans. Sweet little horse that understands human affection and can give 'horse-hugs'. Such a special little guy.

Bandero

Bandero's mother is out of our Percheron mare Cinderella by a reg. TB stallion named Equistone. Had we not rescued Cinders from that PMU farm in Canada, Bandero and his mother would have gone to a meat farm. Randy delivered Bandero right here on the farm.. He was born coal black but of course over the years, he turned pure snow white, like his Mom. Bandero was always magical and breath taking. So athletic and so full of endless energy. We knew early on that he was too much horse for us and that he was destined for greater things. Eventually we were able to get him some professional training with Andrea Baxter, of Twin Rivers ranch in San Miguel, where he got to do what his heart always wanted...Run and JUMP! Bandero now lives with Jenna Law, who rides him and shows him in cross country/Hunter-jumper. He excels at this because it's what he loves. We miss him but are so happy for him.

Max

I feel like I've had my share of beautiful horses. And beautiful horses are alot of WORK! So as I'm getting older, I decided to get a "plain", simple little gelding that was gaited, and OLD . Something little and non-descript that wouldn't make me fall in love with him. Imagine my joy when we found Max at "Millys Place" rescue. Poor scruffy little thing was getting ready to be sent to slaughter when those wonderful folks saved him off the truck. We adopted Max shortly after they got him ready to go. Max was perfect. He was scruffy and scabby and aloof and best of all, no beautiful mane and tail to take care of. He was hard to catch and definitely not friendly or trusting. Who knows what kind of life he had had, at 20 years old. Fast forward a year and OMG. Max is turning into a beautiful little horse. He nickers at me and loves to be brushed and played with. I'm trying not to fall in love with him! Cinders is my horse-sister, true love. But Max....oh dear. What a funny little guy, getting so trusting and trying so hard. He has had very little, if any formal training. He's easy going and naturally gaited so I think people just jumped on him and pulled him this way and that. I don't think he ever experienced love or respect. I got curious as to what breed he might be so I had his DNA done and what a surprise! He's a Trakhenner, Standardbred, TWH cross! I am so shocked. He's barely 14 hands! But whatever! He's come such a long way. I'm a little concerned though....he seems to be growing a beautiful blond mane!!!!

Nikita

A few years ago, Randy and I saw an ad for a purebred reg. Arabian gelding for real cheap. So, being the wise old folks that we are, who basically only rode old gaited horses all our lives, we decided to buy a young, green broke Arabian! OMG. Nikita turned out to be a lot "greener" than we thought. We sure didn't know how to ride a frisky TROTTING horse! But we were head over heels in love with the amazing Arabian horse. We never really knew any Arabians, up close and personal, so we were blown away by this horses intellect and personality. He's the kind of individual who connects to your heart immediately. Very loving and kind. Apparently this is normal for Arabians! We did take Nikita to a great trainer here, Allison Sandavol, who worked with us and Nikita.

He's still a lot of horse for us but we enjoy just being with him and playing with him as well as riding. He loves just hanging out with us, and "helping" when he thinks we need his help with something. We're just crazy about him!