If horses had holidays.

If horses cerebrated holidays the first days of going out into their summer pasture would certainly be IT! This is Christmas and New Year all in one big party for the retired geldings who have to wait all winter long to go out into the fields that were reseeded last fall.This year we put up an electric tape line to divide the pasture into two sections so that part of the field can be rested and irrigated to extend the grass season for the entire summer.

Tranquility Farm sends a special THANK YOU to the Amerman Family Foundation for a grant to till and reseed other pastures that suffered badly during the incredibly long and wet winter this year!

In a few short months we will be having a block party for the horses on the other sections of the farm, but today we celebrate a high holiday with our superstar geldings.
Southern Wish
Running Free
The Happy Campers
Stormin Away looks like he is thinking "Is this for real?"

Precious moments

The first time I met Now My Precious she had just been unloaded from a caravan of horse trailers with the forty Warren broodmares that Tranquility Farm rescued from a hell hole in Arizona. It was 114 degrees, and the mares were all dehydrated and stressed. Quite a few of them also had untreated cuts and other injuries that would require veterinary care. We unloaded them into a big shady corral with feed and clean water where they could all be sorted out.

This proved to be no small feat as some of the mares had decided they had seen enough of human beings, and who could blame them? But out of the crowd a beautiful bay mare walked up to me with the kindest eye and when she saw the trouble I was having catching some of her sisters, she pitched right in to help. She went with me to the mare I wanted and stood by to quietly reassure her, and sometimes she blocked one that tried to walk away. At first I thought it was coincidental, but the bay mare stuck with me all day and saw to it that every mare was caught and taken care of. That helpful mare was Now My Precious. I took her home.

Precous had a beautiful colt last year, and since weaning him I have been hoping for the right home for her, where she could be a part of a real family and have all the love she deserved. Finally, her people arrived, and this week Precious will go home with a little girl named Jordan to be the love of her life.

Jordan's mom explained to me that it was so important to both of them to adopt rather than buy a horse because Jordan had been adopted, so they knew that giving a home to a rescued horse would be the very best thing they could ever do.

Six degrees of Preakness

I always liked the movie Six Degrees of Separation, and in the world of Thoroughbred racing it seems we are all just getting closer every day. Hardly a major race goes by that one of the horses at Tranquility Farm, or a graduate, does not have a connection. And so to celebrate the Preakness Stakes this weekend, here is a photo of our own Preakness contender, Menacing Dennis.

This very weekend Menacing Dennis is probably out carrying the young lady who adopted him around the hunter ring somewhere in Southern California. But on the third Saturday of May 2002, our own Dennis was setting blazing fractions in the Preakness Stakes, defying the likes of War Emblem, Medaglia d Oro, Harlan’s Holiday and Proud Citizen to come and get him. Well unfortunately they did, but Dennis put on a brave and spectacular run for three-quarters of a mile, taking his best shot at history.
We found a great home for Menacing Dennis in 2005, and since that time he has been living happily ever-after as a well-loved pet and show horse. It was a thrill to have given this amazing horse his happy ending, and to have been even a small part of his admirable career.

On Mother's Day

When Tranquility Farm opened in March of 1998, among the very first horses to take shelter at the farm were six rescued pregnant mares. And so it went for ten long years which culminated with the rescue of the forty Warren broodmares from a feedlot in Arizona in 2008.

This spring the reckless breeding of horses seems to have finally abated as the numbers have dropped nearly 40% in our state over the last five years. For the first time this spring our barn has not been converted into an emergency nursery, and the relief is enormous. To honor some of the wonderful mares who have come to us over the years, here are some favorite photos to celebrate Mother's Day. If you have donated to Tranquility Farm in the past, here are a few of the horses whose lives you have saved. If you are considering a donation to Tranquility Farm, here are a few of the reasons we need your SUPPORT
Ventilation and Callthewindmariah
Lava Lil and Minnahunie
Rescued Mares 2007.
Grandjean and Brighter Stars
The incredibly patient Flightofthemonarch and colt.

Small victories.

For every race there is a win picture, something you can cherish forever to remind you of the hard work and luck that went into the moment. Here in the world of horse rescue, we also have our own small victories to celebrate, sometimes against all odds, with an extraordinary amount of luck. For us there is no purse, only the memory to last a lifetime.
This beautiful chestnut is the Chilean racehorse Geronimo, a veteran 42 starts and graded stakes winner of $463,750, who arrived at Tranquility Farm penniless on three legs in 2008. He survived, and after a year and a half of rehabilitation he is finally able to go out into the pasture and live the good life. His new best friend is Stormin Away, a multiple stakes winner of $414,961 who was unwanted after having been given away at the racetrack to perform a new job that he could never do. Two lucky horses that would have surely been lost except for our confidence in our supporters. If you have ever donated to Tranquility Farm, or are considering making a donation to Tranquility Farm, this photo is our way of saying "Thank you", and the reason we ask for your continued SUPPORT.

Second careers for Derby Horses.

It is Kentucky Derby Day! A good time to update readers on our own retired Derby contender, Buddy Gil. We know what second careers most Derby horses enjoy and rightly so, but hey, a few of us are geldings! And 2003 was the year for super-talented geldings like Buddy Gil and the awesome Funny Cide, the Derby winner. Here is a photo of BUDDY GIL working under his regular jockey Gary Stevens at Churchill Downs in preparation for the Derby. Buddy had a rough start but finished a respectable sixth in a field which also included such greats as Empire Maker, Peace Rules, and Indian Express.

After his illustrious racing career Buddy Gil originally retired to his owner’s Billingsly Creek Ranch in Idaho. When the ranch was sold Buddy moved to Tranquility Farm in 2009. When I spoke to the folks who took care of Buddy in Idaho they told me that he was sometimes turned out with the yearling colts to keep them company. That was a surprise because I knew what kind of racehorse he was, but sure enough, he is a horse you would call tough but tender.

Never was there a more kind companion for a lonely colt, and this year we have one yearling boy that Buddy has taken under his wing.
Here is Buddy Gil yesterday with his little friend Happy Warrior, who is now available for adoption. I guess you could say that Buddy Gil’s second career is “mountain man and mentor”.