prairie corner farm horses and farm life
Our small acreage family horse property is affectionately known as "Prairie Corner Farm".
We have just about eight acres: six of it is pasture/paddocks for the horses and the rest of it is riding area and living area (pool, pond, garden, front yard, etc.)
We live across the street from a 270 acre forest preserve which has four miles of nice single track trail for horses. Our neighborhood is all 5-10 acre horse properties (or larger) for several miles in every direction.
We are very fortunate to have a friendly relationship with our closest commercial barn owner neighbor, who allows us to use their indoor and outdoor arenas. We are also members of our local saddle club, Fox Valley Saddle Association (Laura manages their web site and Facebook presence as well) which has a 60-acre facility with a much larger indoor arena, two outdoor arenas with footing and an outdoor cross country course, as well as an extensive set of stadium jumps for practicing and schooling.
We have barn cats (most of whom live in the house), two dogs (who definitely live in the house) and six horses (who definitely do not live in the house.)
Our horse herd in June 2011
our horses - from front to rear:
- Cedar Grove - Chestnut 16.1hh TB cross (now gone on to a new eventing / show home)
- Clyde - Leopard 16hh Percheron / Appaloosa cross (foundation Appaloosa stallion from Wauzeka WI in 2005); Clyde is 22+
- Lovag - Gray 15.2hh Hungarian Sport Horse (from Egret Lake Farm, Carbondale IL in 2005); Lovag is 14
- Dax (Bright Vaquero) - Leopard 15.2hh Appaloosa (from Morton Grove Equestrian Center in 1997); Dax is 21
- Sugar - Palomino 13.2hh Haflinger cross pony mare (from friends in 2008 - she was a rescue); Sugar is 22+
- Noble - Liver chestnut 12.3hh Welsh pony (adoption story c. 1996 and returned to us in 2009); Noble is 21
- Junior - Leopard 13.3hh POA (adoption story c. 2006); Junior passed on in May 2012 at 35+
- Troika (Triple Threat) - Varnish 14.3hh POA mare (from Dry Creek Stable in 2008 - she was a rescue); Troika is 22+
- Luke (not shown) - Luke is a 16.2hh American Quarter Horse gelding who belongs to a friend
- Lucy (Lady Luxury; not shown) - Lucy was a 14.2hh Bay grade pony mare who passed on in July 2008 at 16+
- Dodger (not shown) - Dodger was a 15hh Leopard Appaloosa with brush tail who passed on in Sept 2007 at 28+
Our horses have a small barn which has three stalls and one large run-in all connected to three good-sized paddocks. We also have a separate, smaller, two horse shed in a separate paddock. Our horses are mostly on pasture and are turned out from 730am to long past dark most days.
All of the horses are geldings except Troika and Sugar, who are mares and are generally very spoiled.
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