Mel at the Beach

What do you think about this picture? Unfortunately, we've never ridden

horses on the shores of Lake Michigan. This is just a photoshop trick, Ha, ha, ha! Looks pretty convincing, right? The journaling on this scrapbook page reads, "...it's a dream of all of ours to go for a horse ride down the beach with the waves crashing at our feet." Wouldn't that be great? By the way, the beach scene is a sunset from last summer on the shores of Lake Michigan in Muskegon.

Giddy Up!

We've surely been busy here at Rocking Horse Farm this spring! We are training and working with Melroe--our registered Stallion that is for sale. Jim is riding him almost daily! Mel will walk, trot, and canter on command, and yields his head beautifully! Jim currently is working with a trainer on a weekly basis to further Mel's training and potential. The way that Mel picks up his feet and floats on the ground reveals what a wonderful dressage horse he could be! At our place, he is being ridden under Western saddle, worked in the round pen, trail ridden through woods, fields, and streams, and ridden extensively in the arena. We'll be posting a new video and still photos soon! Promise!

Here is a scrapbook page of our granddaughter, Hannah, age 2. She is riding trusty Sunny, Billie's gelding.

Melroe: All the Details

Melroe: All the Details

HAFLINGER STALLION: Melroe CVA

– A 6 yr. old AHR Registered and Licensed. Reg. # 17457-01

Sire & Dam are both Dutch Imports.

He is rich copper chestnut in color with abundant white mane & tail. Stands 60” tall.

Mel was the 2003 AHR National Grand Champion Draft Stallion! He has a winning Disposition, Confirmation and Movement. Mel also drives and trail rides down the road, through the woods, crossing creeks and walking down river. He walks, trots, and canters. He stands very well for trimming, shoeing, washing, spraying, clipping and loading. Mel has thrown many beautiful foals. He is an easy/quick breeder. Mel is a very pleasant and easy Stallion to handle!

This is Your Chance to Add this Champions Touch to Your Breeding Program !!!

This is just a single picture--the links don't work yet. But it kinda looks cool!

Melroe slideshow

This is a slideshow of still pictures taken of Melroe. Most of them were taken last fall. He is for sale, owned by NewWay Farms, of which we are part owner of.

Good-Bye Peeky!

We ended our show season with 2 biggies! The GLHA (Great Lakes Haflinger Association) and the AHR (American Haflinger Registry) shows the last two weekends. The GLHA was in Lansing at the MSU Pavilion, and the AHR was in Mason at the county fairgrounds. We were in many, many classes--every year we wonder why run around the whole show with our heads cut off because we're always rushing to the next class! We have so much fun and it's a lot of work. At the GLHA, we took Atta-Boy, Sunny, and Peeky, along with our daughter and son-in-law, their two girls and a teen girl they brought, our granddaughter, and our other daughter came to show with her three girls. Jim's sister and her husband also came to show. SO! 3 horses and 10 people who wanted to show! WOW! Most of us got to show and did well, all the way down to 2 year old Hannah, who showed in the lead-line class. At this show, we had several potential buyers who were going to meet Peeky. The first group came on Thursday night, and fell in love with Peeky! They agreed to buy her after riding her and seeing her move and work. Since they weren't going to be taking her until the following weekend at Mason, we showed her at both shows. We have more pics of the GLHA show, but they were taken with 2 different cameras, and the second one is unavailable at this time. Soon, I'll have more pics to post. (above, the picture on the left is of Peeky; the one on the right is of Sunny)

At the AHR show, there were many more riding events to be in, and our daughter Holly and Jim's sister and her husband came to the show with us again. We are so pleased with how we did and are truly glad that this can be a family hobby. Of course, we didn't get nearly enough blue and red ribbons, so there's always next year!

Our horse goals for the next year is to really work Star, who's been a brood mare to ride and drive, and also her 2 yr. old filly at the same time. So stay tuned for info on them! We appreciate all the kind and helpful comments we get on our trained horses. We put a lot of time, work, and attention into them so that we have a quality, safe horse to sell. As you can see in the picture of Jim and Peeky above, the presence of a child doesn't faze her--unless Hannah is trying to give her a hay cube!! :) Our horses are around people during feedings twice a day, and all have had children on their backs since they very young. Our haflingers are truly people horses!

So thank you all who were interested in Peeky! We appreciated all your emails and questions, and are glad to know that our blog and video were helpful to you. We will keep working hard on that end as well. She made a decent showing at these shows and know that she will continue to grow as a show horse and as a riding and driving horse.

Early Morning Ride

This morning, Jim rode Atta Boy, and Billie rode Peeky. We also drove them last night with our grandchildren. Megan practiced Driving Sunny and did a great job. She drove him around barrels and around the pole bending set up. She is practicing for the Great Lakes Haflinger Show in Lansing the end of September.