Mini Winners

My mom and stepdad live on a farm east of London, Ontario. That they should live on a farm seems inevitable in hindsight: when I was in my early teens, we were forever touring Victorian houses, most of them farmhouses, and had were serious about buying at least two of them. Never came through, though: our homes were invariably suburban. But the dream obviously remained, and now they've made it a reality.

But I don't think they counted on the horses.

Oh, Mom's always loved horses. I, by contrast, was scared of them. They're just so freakin big, you know? You can never tell when one might decide it's time to give you a kick and break your leg.

As their website tells it, "when John and I met a beautiful but very large horse we both realized that at our age something smaller would have to do". They've had a succession of German Shepherds dating back to the mid-eighties, and that's the sort of thing I think they meant...until they found a minature horse.

At last count, they've got fourteen of 'em. And they're getting to be somewhat famous on the fair circuit, winning awards everywhere they go.

Never mind the awards, though. Owning these horses has made my mother look (and feel, I think) ten years younger. It's a heck of a lot of work, keeping them, grooming them, and training them...but it's obvious they love every minute of it.

Because of all manner of weekend commitments, we haven't been able to attend one of their shows this season. That changed yesterday.

We left here at 9:30 to go to Caledonia, a trip that should have taken about 80 minutes. Unfortunately, I'd made the mistake of trusting Google Maps to give decent directions. I won't do that again. We got hopelessly and totally lost, finally pulling into the fairgrounds at noon, just as my folks were about to show.

They showed four horses:

Mare Filipowicz Foulk Lore ("Lore")

Sunfire's Brave Queen of Hearts ("Rain")

Jolly Rancher Tauris ("Tauris")

McCallum's Brash and Sassy ("Sassy"), shown her with her dam

And every one of their horses won their class. Two were named champions. This is happening pretty much every time they show.

The day's haul. Not bad, eh?

I'm really proud of my Mom and John and their stable of champions.