The Chronicles Of Secret

Secret walked off the trailer and into her new stall/home at RK Farm with the ease of a horse much older and wiser than she was. When I first visited RK Farm in 2016 and its owner, Robyne, I knew that this would be the place that my horses called home, even before I saw the barn. Entering through a gate and driving along a shady tree lined drive, before you round the final curve and glimpse the barn, there is a certain calm and peace that seems to transcend everyone who enters the property. The farm is an oasis in a fast disappearing landscape of Central Florida. Sitting on 40 acres (how rare!!), it is surrounded on two sides by housing developments and on two sides by farmland. Because you have to enter it through a neighborhood, nobody would ever guess that it existed. There are boarders who have been here for 10, 15 even 20 years, which is a testament to the quality of care that Robyne provides. There is no need to advertise...word of a rare opening (usually by death or an ou...

If you have followed my other blog, www.calypsofarm.blogspot.com then you know that in 2017, May 25 to be precise, I retired my beloved Tucker, a draft/cross PMU gelding that I had adopted when he was 6 months old. Challenged by health issues, including severe allergies and EPSM, the decision was made to retire him on his 14th birthday. Sadly, I made the difficult decision to let Tucker cross the rainbow bridge on January 2 of this year. EPSM is one of those shitty equine diseases, with no cure and a continuing downward spiral. I chose to let Tucker go out with dignity rather than continue down that cruel path of pain and muscle wasting. Last March, I was put in contact with Stephanie Brennan, wife of Niall Brennan, a well respected Thoroughbred trainer in Ocala. She operates Final Furlong out of their home farm. When horses that are either currently or formerly in their training program begin  showing signs of not performing at their best, Stephanie convinces the owner...