Richnfree, known around the barn as Moe, is a 1995 chestnut Thoroughbred gelding. I’ve had Moe since 2003; he went to college with me, attended my wedding, and is enjoying retirement on my farm.
For many years, Moe and I competed in eventing. We never placed particularly well, as I largely ignored dressage training in favor of jumping whatever I could drag out to the pasture where I rode. But I could always count on Moe to finish on his dressage score, with no time or jumping faults in cross country or show jumping! We evented until 2017, did a little dressage in 2018, and he has been largely retired since 2019.
Moe loves people, and is always the first to greet me in the pasture or the barn. His favorite treats are donuts- plain glazed, powdered sugar, or jelly-filled. He’s indiscriminate.
Madigan von Benestar is a 2018 Westfalen gelding. I bought Madigan in 2019 after a friend sent me an ad for a yearling gelding by Mannhattan out of a Thoroughbred mare. He was exactly what I’d tried and failed to produce when I bred Gina to Mannhattan in 2017. (Her foal died a month after he was born in 2018.)
A small, awkward yearling, Madigan has grown into a large and lovely young horse. He’s done well in both traditional and western dressage at the local and national levels, and is a favorite at the barn thanks to his easygoing temperament.
Westside Story is a 2008 Hanoverian mare I bought in 2023 to trail ride and foxhunt on after it became apparent Madigan didn’t want to do those things.
Story spent most of her life as a show hunter and was sold cheaply to me because she was very ring sour. Fortunately, Story likes trail riding and hunting. Her ring sour behavior has mostly resolved, and we practice dressage and jumping regularly.