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Our farm was born out of my love for horses. In 1962 I bought my first horse. Not only my first, but also my best. She took a completely inexperienced girl and helped her to progress to be a knowledgeable horsewoman. Arabians had always been my first love and in 1968 my first Half-Arabian entered my life. Like almost everyone else I had to sacrifice things I cared for in order to progress with future plans. I had to sell my Half-Arabian so that I could buy my first Purebred Arabian. He went to a girl that cared for him as much as I did. That helped to ease my conscience. In 1972 I purchased my very own first Purebred, my stallion A.A. Ibn Hawk. He is now a mature stallion of 28 years and still likes the girls.
We have been showing, breeding and training ever since. We began in Pennsylvania and did very well with our horses on the East Coast. In 1978 we moved to Florida. We established a nice training, boarding and breeding farm. We did well on both the Arabian and open circuit. We have always been a family owned and operated farm. Our clients' horses were always handled by us and treated with the utmost consideration for their safety and well being. Our farm was located between Ocala and Gainesville in a little town called Citra. We were in the middle of all the Arabian activities that were going on. Even though we were in the middle of all that was occurring in the Arabian Horse World in the 1970's until the present we felt that our best interest for the Arabian Horse was for us to have a facility that would encourage the owners that brought their horses to us to work with and show their own horses and to keep them out of the hands of trainers that only cared about their wallets. We did not feel comfortable with what was happening to the Arabian Horse out behind the barns at the shows. We took great pride in our gentle, loving horses and found it every hard to understand why people thought it was exciting to see the stallions come into the ring on their back feet trying to savage the handler. Yes, we did try to do something about the abuse we saw. We contacted the ethical review board and also tried to work within the lega l system. We learned that money does talk. And it wasn't ours that was talking. We decided to just enjoy our horses and try to get people to know that all Arabians were not crazy. Our stallion went into the show ring but did not savage his handler (me) and then went home and bonded with a handicapped person. Our mare went to a show and then went home to allow a young woman who was disabled to hoist herself up and fulfill a dream of riding an Arabian. We had exposure in the magazines with our horses winning but the greatest satisfaction was seeing that not everyone thought the Arabian was crazy. We watched the Arabian go for unheard of prices at all the big sales in Florida and then went to the local sale barns a year later and watched the big farms selling their excess horses for $400.00 So much for trying to keep the prices of Arabians reasonable. It was hard to see such a noble breed buckle under to greed. We moved to Tennessee in 1996 and still have our original stallion and mare that we had when we stared out in Pa. Kari, our mare is 30 now and Hawk, our stallion is 28. We still offer a facility that gives you quiet time with your horses and we still enjoy a show or two. We have a small log cabin that we offer to anyone that wants to just get away and bring their horse with them. Our farm sits on a creek that is surrounded by natural beauty and wildlife. We are located near the Natural Bridge and TN Health Spa. The Elephant Sanctuary is near us and we have great canoeing on the Buffalo River. We are only 20 miles from Sweetwater Farm who have a lovely family oriented farm. I feel fortunate to have met Shannon and share her interest in Arabians. While she is just starting her endeavors with the Arabian, I'm sitting back enjoying the fruits of my labor. I hope we can both benefit from our meeting and getting to know each other. Click on the images to see the picture enlarged.
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