Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Horses have arrived at Sandy Rock Acres




Horses have arrived at Sandy Rock Acres! We have decided to adopt two horses to come live on our family farm. Rick (my husband) should have known that it would only be a matter of time before the pitter patter of large hoofs were heard around our farm.

I remember spending quite a bit of time with the horses on the farm growing up, including my adorable pony, Flicka. And then, in my teenage years, I had my horse Sundance. Once we got married and purchased a farm of our own, we began preparing the fences for Sundance to come and live with us. Sadly, he died before our fences were complete. There remained a smoldering need for horses in my life. The smell of horses and the creaking sound of leather saddles just made me urn for them more.

I found myself passively looking at horses “for sale” adds. I envisioned myself on a Percheron, riding on top of our hills. There is nothing like a heart-to-heart with my husband to burst a bubble of a vision. I quickly realized that a 17 hand horse just wasn’t practical for our farm. So, about a month later I found myself at a farm equipment auction bidding on a mini horse! Actually, in order to make sure there was buy-in by my hubby, I had Rick do the bidding. Three hundred and fifty dollars later, I was a proud owner of a mini horse named Buckeye. He was given to an Amish boy by his neighbors. The child had out grown the horse and it was in need of a new home.

Days passed, and I loved Buckeye, but something was still missing. I began looking at adoptable horses through rescues. Being a biologist, I was always intrigued with the idea of owning a Bureau of Land Management Mustang. A wild horse…..one that has actually undergone natural selection.

That is when I came upon Montana and Nevada. Montana is a BLM mustang and Nevada is her foal. The story goes like this….. By viewing the BLM brand located on Montana’s neck we know that she was approximately one year of age when she was removed from the range in Nevada. She is now about five years of age. She was auctioned/adopted off and then BLM lost track of where she was (she was never titled). Years later she shows up in an auction ring with a three month old foal at her side. She and her foal were purchased by a kill buyer and were on their way to Canada to be butchered. Several concerned citizens and one rescue later, Montana and her foal were adopted by us. They made their long trip home from Kentucky to Ohio on October 17, 2009. Montana is now approximately five years old and several hundred pounds under weight and Nevada is six months old and just a sweetheart of a filly.


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