OUR HORSES

RILEY TWIG

Before calling Avolino home, Riley was a companion for a thouroughbred horse owned by a couple who live just south of Chestertown, Maryland. The thouroughbred unfortunately died and the previous owner felt it was unfair to allow Riley to stay with them without any companion animal. It was too soon after the loss of their beloved thouroughbred to replace her, so they approached Danielle who had visited their home many times on Vet calls as Riley and Danielle had forged a noteworthy bond. Chris was a little unsure about the whole horse thing; especially since no fencing had been erected at our farm… but Danielle called upon her friend Terrie who owns a horse farm in Galena, Maryland and Terri was more than willing to allow us to board Riley at her stables until we had the opportunity to fence in a pasture for Riley on our own land.

Terrie’s web site for her farm is www.gypsyhavenmorgans.com.

So we fenced about an acre of grass behind our barn and borrowed a trailer and hauled Riley to her new home. Well, remember, Chris had his reservations about this whole horse prospect; the responsibility, the expense, etc. Wouldn’t you know it… the ride home for Riley was a bumpy one. She wasn’t secured well enough and our girl got a nice gash above her eye. We, of course, called the Vet, and a few stitches (and $95.00) later, she was good as new. She eagerly investigated her new environs and settled in nicely with the goats to keep her company.

It wasn’t long though before Danielle, on another Vet call with her then boss came upon yet another benefactor who possessed a great Mare with a nice disposition. On that call to a Davidsonville, Maryland horse farm, Danielle was offered a truly extraordinary AQHA Registered Mare named Twig. Twig made it through transit better than Riley had and upon meeting Riley, Twig quickly learned that she was to accept the fact that pecking order had already been established and she drew the short straw. But that’s the great thing about Twig and what makes her so extraordinary: she let’s Riley think she’s the Alpha Mare and has a “live and let live” attitude. Although Danielle tries not to play favorites, Twig definitely is her first choice for a nice early morning trot or a late summer’s evening ride.

With both the mares in a small one acre paddock, we quickly realized, we needed to expand the fencing on the farm. (They had literally eaten all the grass in sight down to the roots.) We used two sides of the existing paddock, removed the other sides and expanded the fenced pasture to more than 5 acres. We have plans to enlarge the area to incorporate the survey limits of the property this year and then we will subdivide the whole into defined sub-pastures so we can over-seed the field and offer a better variety of grass and forage throughout the year. We’ve also just installed some electrified braiding at the bottom of our horse pasture to allow the entire goat herd the opportunity to free graze the property.

On the evening of June 19, 2006, we were alerted by a neighbor that Riley was out of the pasture and had been frantically running along the rural highway in front of our farm. We wrangled her and brought her back to our property where she was visibly agitated and physically exhausted. We felt the stress of running along side of highway traffic must have caused her to suffer some trauma although she had no signs of injury. We later would determine that she was only off the property perhaps 15 minutes before we apprehended her and returned her to her pasture. We found no sign that any of the fencing tape had failed and later determined that someone had released her from her pasture by lifting a gate off its hinge pins. We called out our Vet who performed and thorough examination of Riley and determined that she was suffering from posttraumatic stress and an acute case of colic brought on by the episode on the highway. We kept vigil over her for just over 25 hours and she passed on June 20, 2006 at approximately 1030pm. Chris, and especially Danielle, were distraught over Riley’s loss. We created a memorial garden on our farm under two mature oak trees where she would often find shady solace on hot summer days. She will always be missed and never forgotten.

Hearing the news of Riley’s passing, many of our friends offered their sympathies and two friends stepped up and found folks who were looking for good homes for their horses. We adopted a miniature horse from Danielle’s friend, Anne Marie, named Cole. After a brief introductory period, Twig and Cole are getting along famously. And… Just when things settled down we adopted a neighbor’s Paint/Mustang Mare, for now named Baby. She is going to need a lot of attention and training but we are looking forward to the challenge. There is a bit of disagreement as to who is in fact the herd queen at this time, but hopefully Twig and Baby will come to an amicable understanding in the short term.

Autumn 2007 Update:

Danielle has decided to place “Baby” our Mustang/Paint Mare as well as our Mini gelding Cole, up for sale. She has had her mind set on adopting either a Fresian or Percheron Mare for some time so, if you are interested in learning more about these wonderful horses or possibly purchasing one, feel free to email Danielle at daniellebove@avolinofarm.com.

Update:

Cole, our black miniature gelding has been sold!

Although we use our Udderly EZ Milker to milk our Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, it was initially invented for use on horses. See our Udderly EZ Milker Page for more information.