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.
With the arrival of my very own stallion
we established
MI-OWN ARABIANS.
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 occuring 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 Santurary 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.
Please feel free to come and visit and
Welcome
to
MI-OWN ARABIANS
