All the King's Horses

Since we've finally reached our slow time of year I've been hard at work updating our website with the mares who joined our breeding herd in 2020 as well as photos of the 2020 foals. More updates to come on a few recent additions ;) We're also trying out a new feature- a blog! It's a little overwhelming to take on another project knowing how crazy the summer months get but it's something I've been considering for a while. I've intentionally set the bar low at one post a week and will try to share those updates here as well. Take a look, let us know if there's anything specific you want to read about and bear with us as we sort out how this new process works!

Well the cat's out of the bag... there's a handsome new man in town at AKH :) RGR Boondock Saint was bred by Rungypsyrun and is the sire to our 2020 keeper filly AKH Cookies N Cream. We're so grateful for the chance to be a part of this boy's story! This is just a sneak peek and we'll get better photos soon, but feel free to read more below if you want to hear about how this boy came to join our herd... Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved horses. Her friend (and fut...ure hubby) introduced her to the beauty of the Gypsy Vanner breed. While researching and looking for her first Gypsy, the girl discovered a dreamboat stallion named Shameless. Long before a mare arrived she had big plans to purchase a breeding and produce a Shameless foal for herself. Well, life happens and the Gypsy mare arrived (as amazing as advertised!) but sadly the stallion she adored was first gelded and then passed away in a terrible accident. Thankfully, the breeder had a herd filled with his genetics and believed strongly in maintaining the lines... so the dream wasn't dead. Things came together in 2019 while searching for an outside stallion to breed an older, proven mare. This amazing direct son of Shameless was available and as a bonus he's my very favorite color- a gorgeous buckskin. The pairing was successful and we kept in touch with his owner, Sue, during the long wait for what I hoped would be our future herd sire (outside genetics, cool color possibilities, out of an amazing mare). When we got a filly instead she was immediately deemed a keeper but the hunt was still on for the next herd sire. Thankfully, Sue knew how excited we were about the breeding, how much we loved 'Boone' and that it was a line we believed in so when she considered moving him along to allow some fresh blood in the herd she was open to passing him on to us. The rest, they say, is history! We're excited to see this boy fill out and watch what he produces in our herd. He's had some saddle training and will have a refresher there as well as working towards going under harness. For now, we're trying to build a connection, establish ground rules, and get to know each other. Welcome to the herd, Boone!

Some horses truly can do it all! Beech is our unicorn Brabant- a 9 year old blue roan mare imported from the Netherlands. She was really showing her skills this weekend... On Saturday she did a wedding photo shoot for a friend. On Sunday she attended our obstacle challenge and while it wasn't nearly as seamless as our home practice she definitely stole the hearts of everyone watching. And today she's back in the woods hauling logs. This girl is sweet, gorgeous and all around amazing and we can't wait to see her foal this summer :)

Today's adventures brought to you by Hay Chix nets- keeping our girls entertained while standing around all day- EquiFUSE Gleam- working out those winter tangles when the weather won't allow for a bath- and a healthy sense of humor when a pretty pony decides to act like she's never seen obstacles before the minute she enters the ring ;)

It's been beautiful weather for January the last couple of days! I was grateful to have Roberta Dunn Reed out working youngsters with me yesterday and she captured some fun shots with one of the big girls as well... More details to come ;)

Today we have a rather disappointing update. They aren't my favorite to write but one of our commitments to our AKH family is to share the whole picture of farming- ups AND downs- and never pretend it's always easy. So with that, I'm sorry to share that we recently found that our Brabant mare Rosie, due to foal first this year, has lost her 8 month old foal :( We don't know exactly what happened (there are many things that can lead to loss of a foal and unfortunately without a fetus/placenta to examine the cause often goes undiagnosed) but thankfully Rosie seems to be doing well and we have no reason to think that she will have ongoing problems. We'll do a little extra work prior to breeding for a 2022 foal and are hopeful that next year she'll give us a sibling to the adorable and very popular 2020 model, Turtle.