Friends of ours had a couple of llamas that they were planning to take to an auction. One was a 6 month old female. I asked if they would sell her to us for $100, hoping that they weren’t offended by my low price. They said, “She’s not worth that much; you can just have her.” She has been quite a novelty on our farm as she is anxious to greet any visitors.

Carla decided that she wanted to bottle feed a goat, so we got two 4-day-old goats for her. She had a busy summer feeding her “boys”, and enjoys their antics (except when they escape the fencing!).

Cocoa and Cherokee: Cocoa was my first stallion. He sired two foals, then I decided not to use him for breeding. He is now Carla's pet gelding. Cherokee is one of my original mares. I no longer use her for breeding. As we needed to cut down on numbers, I found a non-breeding home for my other two original mares, Cassie and PJ.

Gram: When Laura was eight years old, she got Gram--her first pony. By talking to Grams previous two owners, we figure that she is in her low 30’s. Even though Laura is an adult and is 5’8”, she still likes to hop on Gram (no saddle) and go out for rides through the woods. Gram is still full of life and seems to enjoy the rides as much as Laura does.

Snickers: At one time, we thought we would like to raise Haflingers. We bought a pregnant mare, Cora, and Snickers is the colt that she had. The morning he was born, we realized that something wasn’t quite right when Gram had a little baby by her side! She had stolen the new colt and the real mom was no longer interested in her baby. We got the mares separated and convinced Cora that she should let Snickers nurse. Everything worked out fine, but that spring is when we got our first minis. My interests immediately shifted to raising miniature horses instead of Haflingers. We had Cora rebred and sold her to some friends.

Jubilee:  Jubilee, a Tennessee Walker, is a former lesson horse from Pegasus Special Riders. She was no longer able to properly chew her food because of bad/old teeth (beyond vet care). We "adopted" her so that Laura can give her special care. She is still able to be ridden by just about anyone.

Pete: Although I have never been a confident rider, I had acquired a true fear of riding. After working with the minis, I decided that I’d like to have my own riding horse. I bought Pete because I thought he needed a better home (not a good reason to buy a horse!). Although he’s not a perfect “western pleasure” horse, he is a trust-worthy trail horse and I enjoy riding again. And, his coat has the most beautiful metalic copper gleam in the summer.  (I sold Pete in 2005--I decided that I didn't want to ride and found him a good home nearby.)

Tippy and Makita (dogs): Tippy showed up at our house on a winter night about eight years ago. I told Tim to leave her alone, hoping she would go home. The next morning, he told me that I should come out to the barn to look at the stray. She was only a puppy, half starved and very scared. Needless to say, she ended up inside. After trying unsuccessfully to find her owner, she became a part of the family.  Since we wanted a second dog, Tim mentioned that there were pitbull-mix puppies on his mail route. Believing the bad reports about pitbulls, I wasn't interested. Finally, I decided to take a look. After meeting her pitbull mom and seeing how sweet she was, we decided to bring Makita home. She is one of the friendliest, gentlest dogs that I've ever seen, both with people and other critters.

Chickens:  Only two roosters at this time.... 

Many Cats....  Two inside cats, Missy and Callie, both calicos. A variety of outside/barn cats.

Rabbits: Misty and Phantom