It all started with Lily and Montego.

Lily was thoroughbred racehorse. She won a few races and made a little money for her owner/breeder before retiring from racing at five to become a brood mare. She was then abandoned by two successive owners and was about to be sent to The Auction, when we were able to swoop in and save her. Lily had a wonderful life here at MSEC and passed away in 2015. You can read her full story here in the Paulic Report.

A TB/QH cross, Montego was rescued from a kill pen by a friend of Kim’s who ran a therapeutic riding program.

At the time, Kim had just taken a buy-out from Capital One and was looking for a project. Montego became that project. He was in rough shape, but after some groceries and a bit of training, he became a reliable trail horse. Kim’s daughter even showed him in some flat classes, but he’d had a tough life, and after a few years, the arthritis in his back left him unable to carry even a saddle, so he became the first Chief Retiree. Montego passed away in 2018.

Our first donkey! A local family was giving up their farm to move back to a neighborhood, so they planned to board their two ponies here and asked to bring the donkey too. The owners built a little run-in shed for the “Donkey” (who didn’t have a name) because she was just going to live outside. Once the donkey and the ponies arrived, imagine Bruce’s surprise to find out the ponies were to be boarded, but the family intended to “give” us the donkey! We love her and she is a wonderful addition to our family.

Our friend Alan said the donkey is his spirit animal — he named her Myrtle.

We sometimes call him Redsterooney. One of our most reliable lesson horses. Red was well-travelled, but we don’t know about his early life. He was a lesson horse at another area farm, and then used by a neighbor for foxhunting. That person offered him to us to use for lessons in order to keep him fit enough for foxhunting. Then one day, Red decided he’d had enough of tearing through fields chasing hounds and foxes and jumping over stuff, so he refused to get on the trailer. The nice lady handed Kim the lead rope and said, OK, I guess he’s yours now.”

Red’s since become a wonderful member of our family and countless little girls have learned to ride on his back.

Cue is a very oral young man, and he’ll eat anything he can get into his mouth. A big, rangy Belgian / TB cross, he’s good-natured, mischievous and doesn’t hesitate to use his size to try to get his way. That said, he hasn’t got a mean bone in his body and takes correction very well. Cue is in our lesson program, and he belongs to a local owner who doesn’t have time to give him the attention he deserves but can’t bring herself to sell him.

It’s quite a sight to see little girls trotting around the ring perched on the back of this giant horse who looks like he should be hauling cannons around a civil war battlefield.

Majik is a retired eventing horse.

Three-Day Eventing is a form of competition that requires a horse to perform in Dressage, Cross-Country Racing and Stadium Jumping. In other words, it calls for a very athletic horse, and at nearly 30 years old, Majik is magical. He doesn’t look a day over twenty-five and still loves participating in lessons. His only drawback is that he eats too fast and tends to choke, so we have to keep an eye on him.