This is a new page we are adding to the website to keep everyone informed as to what we are doing at the farm, as well as how the horses are doing.  We hope you enjoy this new page! 10-29-08

March 7, 2010  We are finally starting to thaw out.  This of course leads to my all time favorite things...mud.  Ok, perhaps not, but at this point I think we will take the mud everywhere to be done with the snow.  Another milestone, winter is (hopefully) close to over!  Signs are starting to pop up everywhere, namely, hair!  The horses have started to finally let go of their winter coats.  And this month both of our mares are due.  Mandy is due March 18, and Lilly is due March 28.  Odd that a year ago we had 6 foals to wait for and now we are down to 2.  

The horse industry has of course been hit by many things, mainly, the closing of the PMU mare lines as well as the closing of the slaughter plants in the US has lead to an over surplus of unwanted horses.  The market has been flooded by horses people can not seem to get rid of, or find homes for.  The horse rescues are full, and unfortunately with many horses young, old, or not trained properly, the whole industry has almost been put at a standstill until something can be figured out.  One thing remains certain, a well trained horse is still in demand.  Not a young, 'green' or 'started' horse, but a horse who has the time, effort and miles put on them to make them a solid citizen.  This of course takes a lot of time, dedication, and money.  There will always be breeders out there who breed 'just because' and you will find their product at the local auctions, or standing out in fields.  We remain committed to the registered Haflinger Horse, and the quality set by the World Haflinger Federation Standards.  We have significantly cut our herd down to accommodate the foals that we will be producing, to be able to raise them, train them, and show them before finding them new suitable homes or staying here with us.  

While some breeders are put in a dark light right now that they should not be producing with this surplus of unwanted horses, we are firm believers that the quality of the Haflinger will remain only by dedicated breeders or else our breed will suffer in conformation, temperament, size and color that we have all come to love and adore.  If there are not breeders out there who will continue to weather the storm, when this does pass, there will be few quality Haflingers left. There are some Haflinger breeders who are trying to follow the 'trends' and have started crossing their Haflingers with other breeds for a new, trendy type 'breed'.  With any new 'breed' comes the idea of 'unique' which equals money to many. We love and respect the hundreds of years of dedication to the lines and breeding of the Haflinger horse  that has made it the breed we love and we will continue to raise and train registered, full blood Haflinger horses. Of course, if you like the qualities of the registered Haflinger horse, we encourage you to seek them out.  A 'grade' Haflinger or 'part blood' is nothing more than a color and perhaps size that someone is claiming to be as a pure Haflinger and will not have the conformation, personality, or trainability that the registered Haflingers have and are known for.  We have so many calls from people with 'problem Haflingers' who are mean and nasty, rude, and pushy, and when we press further, we find that most of these Haflingers either aren't even registered, pure Haflingers, but they were purchased 'green' or from an auction with little known history.  This gives a terrible name to the Haflinger Horse in general.  When you throw a different breed into the mix, you never know what you will get, with a registered, pureblood Haflinger from dedicated breeders, you know from hundreds of years of breeding, training, and keeping the best qualities that made this breed a great all around family horse.  Don't settle for less. 

February 19, 2010  Snow, snow and more snow!  Over 24 inches of snow fell in the past two weeks, pretty much shutting our county down.  The children did not have school for 10 days, and most of us were not allowed out on the roads.  While snow is of course not new to Ohio, this much in such a short amount of time is unusual.  On a farm, of course, this provides us with unique challenges.  The doors to the barn had snow well above them, the horses could not get in and out from the barn to the pastures, and the poor mini's, well they would have disappeared if they had been outside!  So, for several days everyone had to stay in, making more chores for us, until the tractor could make a path to the pasture, and we could put the fence back up to get them out.  Isn't it funny how the same fence can be up, and the moment the horses know it is down, or they can get over it, they do?  I had 9 Haflingers out on the road one morning, heading who knows where.  

  We also had two very special Haflingers leave our farm.  Luna Gold MMH, our head herd mare, and a weanling filly, Amy left to become official pasture pets at a new home.  We are thrilled with their new owners and wish them all the best, love and care as they both deserve it.  It was hard to watch them both leave as we figured they would be here forever, but god tells us sometimes when they can have a better life, and this was one of those times and we were happy to give them away to a new forever home where unlimited amounts of pats, hugs, and carrots await them both.

  As I write this, we should be heading to our next ADT event in Sullivan.  However, with all of the snow, there was no way to even get the horses out of the barn, let alone try to work them and drive.  I guess that is what we get for trying to show in Ohio in Feb!  So this show we skipped on, hopefully the March event we can get back to.  With the weather, we have made some changes yet again.  The horses are now being bedded in straw, so when they come in from the pasture they can lay down in warmth.  The shavings while easier to clean, just froze with the weather, and it was quite uncomfortable for the horses, and we found the babies especially were not laying down at night.  Of course being Haflingers they love to eat some of the straw, but we also ended up grading our hay to almost 100% alfalfa when in the barn, and regular timothy/orchard grass round bales when outside.  

Below are a few pictures of Michigan Mohawk on the left, our Combined Driving gelding, and two year old stallion Awesome Gold MMH, enjoying some time out in the snow!

January 31, 2010 Very quiet here at the farm.  For the first time in ten years, we are down to enough horses that we are able to bring everyone in the barn at night!  Considering five years ago we had 34 Haflingers, to be down to 15, including the minis, makes it all very quiet.  Thank you to everyone who purchased our Haflingers to get our numbers down for the upcoming year!  The two year olds are currently being schooled in their advanced ground work, side passing, and working through obstacles.  The yearlings are growing and figuring out what this cold and ice is all about.  They quickly get agile on our large hills, and I force myself not to watch them all galloping and playing as if it were summer without a care in the world!  Cocoa Chanel, our four year old mare sustained a kick to the jaw and we are still treating it, which appears it is going to be quite a long journey and she is not being worked at this time.  Michigan Mohawk, Mike's ADT and CDE prospect continues to be retrained from a draft hitch horse, to learning the dressage fundamentals.  It is quite a unique challenge for me and I am enjoying it a lot.  Bitting up, bending, flexing, and lots of ground work for collection, thinking, and listening are keys right now to  helping him become the best CDE candidate.  Mandolyn RVRW continues to enjoy her time off, and her continuous amount of hay supplied to her.  Always the barn Queen, Mandy is showered with much of the attention as we wait for her foal due in March.  Lilly Langtree is also due in March, and our older mare, Luna Gold enjoys being the herd master, quiet and calm, but everyone knows she still rules the herd. She was not rebred although you would never know it by the hay belly!  Newsline, our veteran gelding, moved over the in-laws this fall as he was getting rough at the time with some of our new mares, and even the younger colts.  He is now with the other hitch geldings in their own field.   A Rock, well, he is as spoiled as ever.  The only one to have his blanket on 24/7, he will walk away from his grain to have it put on!  He can now bow, and step up on a stool, and is starting to gain interest in the mares again, as he knows the breeding season is vast approaching.  He enjoys all the attention, thinks he should be the only one to have the attention, and one day he wants to be turned out all day long, and then the next he won't head out at all.  I don't blame him, I'm the same way! :)  The mini's keep us all entertained, and don't have to do to much except eat and accept the carrots, pats, and rubs from Johnathan this time of year.  Life is certainly quiet right now, and we are all enjoying it! 

January 23, 2010 First horseshow of 2010!  Please click on New Shows 2010 to see results and story! 

January 16, 2010 In Memory of Nikko TH, out of our foundation mare, Farrah Lou SFF, multiple champion stallion.  May he always be remembered.  Our condolences to Bunker Hill Farm on the loss of this young stallion.  May his first, and only foal crop arriving soon be just as amazing as he was.

January 09, 2010  Happy New Year!  It has been quite a while since the website has been updated, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been anything new going on here at the farm, so let's get started!

The month of December was spent with us going on Holiday for three weeks to Longboat Key, FL.  Sand, surf, sun and FUN!  It was wonderful to do nothing!  Johnathan enjoyed his first ever deep sea fishing trip, along with playing in the Gulf and building sandcastles.  Jacque enjoyed the sun, reading books and getting a great tan, while poor Mike, well, Mike stayed back in Ohio and took care of the horses, and put in three new water hydrants for the barn, paddocks and new wash area!  Well, really, Mike works for the Army Corps Engineers, and wasn't able to take the vacation as he is on call.  However, we did come back in time for Christmas, and no matter how warm and sunny it is in Florida, it just isn't Christmas unless you have snow, beautiful snow covering everything, and we flew home to a picture perfect snow covered Ohio and spent a wonderful holiday with our families.

The horses are all doing well and are fat, sassy, and hairy.  They like the fact that they come in the barn at night for the winter months.  Mike has a new Combined Driving horse that we hope will work out.  We are getting ready for the Arena Drive Trials starting in January which go through March.  We will have three competitors in this new event.  Mike with Cocoa Chanel in the horse division, our son, Johnathan will debut in his first ever driving division at four years old with his trusty Miniature Horse, Tucker, and Jacque's mom, Gwen will also be driving Tucker in the Green as grass division. Jacque is sitting this series out and will be the head groom and clothes organizer! :)

Additional Shows for the 2010 season will include Mike pursing the Combined Driving Events, while Jacque will go in the Hunter Paces and possibly Mini Trials with her stallion A Rock, while Johnathan will be showing Tucker in Small Fry Showmanship, Lead line, and Driving classes at the local open shows.  Marquis MJW and Awesome Gold MMH will be going in the sport pony halter ring while we wait the arrival of just two foals for this year.  Mandolyn RVRW and Lilly Langtree HFB are both due in March.

The winter newsletter is almost finished, and should be up on our site in a few days.  We look forward to January being our down time at the farm, and let the horses be horses, run on the hills, getting dirty and manes flying wildly and they love every minute.  We hope you and your horse family enjoy the 2010 year!

Nov 24, 2009 We LOVE hearing from our the owners of our sold Haflingers!  This here is some of the latest about one of our Haflingers, 'Chief' (now called Akello)  Thank you to Terri for keeping us updated!  Chief/Akello was sold well over a year ago, we knew he was something special, and Terri and Akello are a great pair, congratulations!  Please read her note and picture below.

  We have also added our special riding/driving holiday packages and rates under our Services offered link.  Please click on it for more information!  I have been busy the past two weeks showing horses to clients, it seems more people are interested right now, which is great!  Our training horses have left for the holiday season, and so I have been playing with the yearlings, refreshing their skills as they have been out playing most of the summer and fall and everyone is getting their fuzzy winter coats.  Both the weanlings and yearlings are coming in from the pasture every evening and so the barn is full!  

Mandolyn continues to improve, today she had her two week checkup and blood work done again, revealing a slightly low red blood cell count, which we have addressed but otherwise she is back on track.  Today was also teeth check day, revealing only one horse, our two year old gelding 'Sly' not only needed his teeth floated, but he had wolf teeth that needed to come out!  Poor Sly, but he will feel much better now!  

Nov 16, 2009  Before we leave on holiday, we have decided to offer many of our Haflinger horses at well below our normal prices.  This will help us to cut down on our numbers for winter to better help us concentrate on the upcoming breeding season for client mares, and make room for client training horses.  Until Dec 1, 2009 take advantage of our lowest prices EVER offered on our Haflingers!

Nov 11, 2009  We are so happy to report that as of yesterday, Mandolyn RVRW has finally come home.  OSU was wonderful in helping Mandy through her ordeal and 12 days after she went in, she was able to come home.  We are monitoring her closely and everything appears to be well.  The foal is fine as well.  Special thanks to everyone at OSU who helped Mandy to recover, Brian, Dr. Smith, and Dr. Williams especially!

We are excited to announce a new feature of our website, a newsletter!  This fall edition is my first attempt at doing a newsletter to give everyone an idea of happenings here at the farm.  We look forward to any and all feedback, and anything that you would like to see in future issues!

Fall Newsletter Click!

Nov 5, 2009  As with wonderful news about our newest addition to our herd, comes the sad news of one of our wonderful mares, Mandolyn RVRW.  On Friday, Oct 30, Mandy was showing some subtle signs of a possible colic.  After calling our Vet, he determined that Mandy needed to head to a Equine Hospital, and so we quickly loaded her up and headed to the Ohio State University Large Animal Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.  It was there that it was determined that Mandy has Anterior Enteritis.  http://www.petplace.com/horses/proximal-enteritis-proximal-duodenitis-jejunitis-anterior-enteritis/page1.aspx  To date she is still at OSU.  Things have been up and down the past six days, making trips to Columbus every other day to see our beloved mare, and twice daily phone calls from the Vets have made this ordeal much easier to cope with.  Mandy is doing much better, she is refluxing just 2 liters, which was the goal, down from the original 8-10 liters.  She is well hydrated, her heart rate, respiration etc is all in normal limits.  Her foal, due in March 2010, is still doing well, however this has limited a bit as to being able to ultrasound the intestines, what drugs can be given etc.  We are thankful that Mandy and the foal are still alive and thank Ohio State University, the surgery Vets who were in charge of Mandy through Monday of this week, and now the internal medicine specialist as well as the neonatal specialist, and of course, Mandy's main caretakers.  We keep everyone posted on Mandy's progress, and thank everyone for the kind emails, phone calls and prayers for our lovely girl.

Oct 29, 2009  There is so much to announce!  First and foremost, we are excited to say that we have a new addition to our Haflinger herd.  Awesome Gold MMH has come to live with us!  This amazing young stallion first caught our eye last year as a weanling out in the pasture with his mother.  Owned and bred by Mini Mountain Haflingers, Ray Miller of Dundee, Ohio, son Joel Miller owned Awesome.  I kept watching this young horse, and commenting on him to my husband.  After the Buckeye Haflinger Show in July, (after this colt won his halter class, and the $100 halter class)  my husband secretly began talking with Ray and Joel about the possibility of purchasing Awesome without my knowing.  It turns out that throughout the year this horse just kept getting better and better.  I was a bit discouraged at the fact that Ray and Joel would not even price him to me, but I knew that they were also excited about this young prospect.  By the time the Futurity rolled around last weekend, Mike announced to me that he had purchased Awesome for us!  To say I was thrilled would be an understatement!  Awesome Gold MMH is by our stallion, A Rock, and out of Lacey Gold MMH (dam to Ray's 2008 Best of Show horse Wild Gold MMH, who also was 08 and 09 National Grand Champion Gelding) this mare has repeatedly produced winners.  

  'Gold' as he will be called at the farm, will first blow you away with his eye catching beauty.  You simply can't miss him!  Besides his correct conformation, pretty head, and long neck, Gold has a wonderful shoulder, and forearm.  His back and loins ties in nicely to his hindquarters, his 'engine' which is so important to our performance horses.  All four of his legs are correct and straight, and he stands well on nice hoofs.  He keeps the Haflinger standard look and type, without going extreme to light or to draft style.  The most amazing thing about Gold, however, is his movement.  He floats!  It is effortless, as if he moves on springs.  It was hard when looking at the pictures to display, which ones to choose because all the shots were so amazing!  Gold's temperament is sweet and kind.  Very smart and playful, but respectful too.

  We do not know what the future holds for this bright son of A Rock.  While I am most excited to have him here as the prospect to be my next all around performance gelding, at this time he is simply to nice to geld.  A good stallion makes a great gelding, is the saying we breeders live by, but every once you step back and look to see if perhaps, just perhaps, you have another stallion contender on your hands.  This is the case with Gold for the moment.  Who knows what the spring will bring, and changes around the corner, but for now, he will remain a stallion.  We say that A Rock foals are slow to mature, and they don't really look great until their three year old year.  If this yearling year is Gold's 'off' year, we can't wait to see what he will look like his three year old year!  (photo credit to Frawgbyte Photography) 

Oct 8, 2009 Today is the last day of the Coshocton County Fair.  It has been probably 5 or 6 years since we have had horses at the fair.  Nationals sometimes seemed to get in the way, or just life.  This year, however we decided that we needed to keep horses at the fair.  Our four year old son, Johnathan took his pony Tucker, along with Misty for his friend Erin to show.  They all did wonderfully!  It was such a delight to watch them showing.  Our Haflingers did well also on their show day, however those pictures will come later! :)

Johnathan and Tucker and Erin with Misty during the 4-H show in small fry showmanship, everyone came out a winner!

Erin Wilson with Misty and Johnathan Woodward with Tucker in the small fry showmanship class during the Open Horse and Pony show on Tuesday.

  Johnathan took 3rd, and Erin took 4th place! 

Johnathan in his leadline class.  This was a competitive class, with 16 entries, and JD and Tucker WON the big first place trophy!

Erin and Katina Wilson with Mandolyn RVRW.  Erin came out with 3rd place out of 16 entries!!!