Those many summer afternoons, with just me and a good horse on the trails, left me with a feeling of kinship with horses. Unfortunately, growing up interfered with my relationship with horses. The demands of college, marriage, family and professional practice all conspired together to prevent me from getting the horses I always wanted to have. However, shortly after my 49th birthday, I decided that if I didn't get those horses now I probably never would. So the process was started with the building of a stable and the addition of some fences on our property.

I started out with a Quarter Horse and then added a Thoroughbred to our stable. Since I am no longer a "spring chicken", the rides on these horses left me with sore knees and a stiff back. Both of these horses were sometimes erratic in their behavior and I never knew what kind of ride I was going to have on them. This behavior also made me uncomfortable when less experienced family members wanted to ride.

Additional searching for a "good horse" lead to my discovery of the Mountain Horse breed. After a test ride on a Mountain Horse, I was convinced that the ride and the attitude of these horses were what I wanted. As they say, "the proof is in the pudding", and I now have 6 Mountain Horses at my stable. The attitude and friendliness of these horses is incredible.

We frequently take our friends out to the pasture to see our Mountain Horses and they always come up to us and want to be petted. Various family members who all have different degrees of riding ability have all ridden these horses with ease. The kind and willing nature of my Mountain Horses makes it easy to develop a partnership with them. I no longer have sore knees and a stiff back, but more importantly, after time spent with them I feel good emotionally because they respond so positively to me. These Mountain Horses want to be with me. The warm feelings of having these powerful animals trust and rely on me is a great emotional high.

Even though they are naturally great horses, Terry and Steven at the Fun-E-Farm have a wonderful gift in training Mountain Horses to enhance their characteristics. We certainly appreciate all their efforts to help us enjoy these horses to their fullest potential.