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Animal Profiles: Journey
Journey Before Destination is our BLM Mustang, from the Three Fingers HMA in Oregon that was decimated by wildfires a few years ago. I bought her from a BLM auction on the internet, sight unseen. She was a “boring” bay color, so few were interested in her, but there was a note on her page that she was “calm and friendly”. In her video, she didn’t spook or gallop around the inside of the pen like most of the horses, but trotted around a bit, and then started nosing around for grass. Her color has become quite pretty as she has gotten older too, even if it is a common bay.
Despite being our tallest horse by a good bit, she is still a filly, not yet full grown. I was expecting a Mustang pony, and was surprised with a Mustang horse instead. It is clear that God worked that out on purpose, since her favorite person is my husband, who loves her right back. I wouldn’t generally recommend a wild Mustang as someone’s first horse, but it seems to work for them.
Journey is inquisitive and observant. While she has a long way to go to become comfortable with human handling and normal husbandry stuff, much less saddle training (hopefully starting this winter!), she is not the slightest bit worried about following people around the pasture. Journey also seems to have a special affinity for neurodivergent kids, something we’ve noticed on several occasions, as she will allow them to pet her face in ways that she stills shies away from with most others. She’s an incredibly cool horse, and we are so blessed to have her in our lives.
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Animal Profiles: Glory
Weight of Glory is our chestnut Quarter Pony gelding. He is a well-rounded horse, and is capable of everything from dressage to cross country to carrying around a beginner that has never sat on a horse before. In my experience, many horses are content to graze the day away, but Glory actually gets grouchy when he isn’t in regular work of some kind. I suspect he likes the mental challenge.
Don’t get me wrong though, Glory also loves to graze the day away, and is a big fan of cookies, cupcakes, curly fries, and whatever other junk food he can get. He wants to be involved with everything, as contractors that have worked here can attest.
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Animal Profiles: Sparkles
In my childhood fantasy come true, we have a number of horses roaming around my back pasture. 12 year old me would be in Heaven…
Admittedly, so is 34 year old me!
Princess Starlight Sparkles, so named by her owner, my 7 year old daughter, came home from Ocala in the back of our minivan 3 days before Hurricane Michael destroyed the farm we were supposed to close on later that week. She ended up being boarded at the farm we eventually bought, and rode out the category 5 storm in an open air stall that a tree landed on. It was a wild ride, and I’d do it all again for this little mare. She is gentle, loves kids, and takes such good care of my daughter. She never puts a foot wrong, and doesn’t mind being swarmed with kids painting, petting, and brushing her. Sparkles is our beautiful unicorn pony, since she is clearly magical.
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Animal Profiles: Lady Goats
I’ve been asked a number of times to do little introductions of our farm animals, so here they are!
We will begin with our two mama goats. Tansy and Rosemary are sisters, two girls from a set of triplet Nigerian Dwarf does (a doe is a female goat). I jumped on the waitlist a bit before Michael, before they were ready to be weaned and leave their mama— who was gorgeous! They came from Bellemeadow Farm, and their breeder, Becky, is a treasure. She has never hesitated to offer goat advice, and has been an enormous help with the occasional sick goat, or weird goat birth situation.
Despite being twins, the girls are remarkably different. Tansy is darker in color, quiet, and sweet. She is shy with strangers, but once she trusts someone, she is loyal and sociable. While I’ve never administered an IQ test to our goats, I suspect she is the brightest. Tansy is also an incredible mama, and has given us our sweetest goat on the farm.
Rosemary is lighter in color (a gorgeous color, with the prettiest markings), and is brash and intense. She knows what she wants, and goes for it, no matter what is in her way. Rosie is extremely food motivated, and will socialize with anyone if she gets cookies out of the deal. She is one of our loudest goats, which really saying something. The only goat louder than her is her son, Sage. I wonder where he learned it… 😉
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On Waiting Gracefully
Waiting for the farm has been inexpressibly long. Not simply as a lifetime dream, though it is that, but as an active search constantly derailed. By some truly wild stuff, including an epic category 5 hurricane that literally blew my town to bits, five days before closing on one farm.
I cannot claim that I’ve always waited with grace. I’ve grown impatient, complained, and tasted despair. I’ve seen in my own life the proof that suffering produces perseverance, and all that follows. Trials are part of life, we certainly haven’t reached the end of them, but the farm is finally part of the picture.
A beautiful part, full of intense amounts of work, and full also of hope.
Almost there. Hopefully the next post will be after we move in.
Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not give up.
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