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Thanks
for visiting! Please be sure to visit our adoptable
horses and other pages (menus are above)
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ARRIVED
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November 2003
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ADOPTABILITY
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ADOPTED 11/15/2004
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SPONSORED BY
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adopted
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BREED/AGE
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3-year-old (2001 model) paint pony gelding, 13.1 hands
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Merlin
is a 3-year old (foaled 2001) black and white paint pony gelding.
He is a sweet,
well-mannered little fellow who came to us needing his feet trimmed,
shots,
gelding and handling time.
We
are thrilled that Merlin found a forever home in Pennsylvania with a
very special young
lady and her family!! Merlin went home winter of 2004.
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11/03 UPDATE: Merlin
is rapidly proving himself to be a show pony in the making. Merlin is a
joy to
ride, follows willingly without crowding other horses,
walks/trots/canters on
command, seldom spooks, and does not fight his rider to go faster. He
will fall
back, trailing well
behind the horses he's following rather than hurry, unless asked by his
rider.
We're so glad to have Merlin with us and look forward to having him
help other
young riders get the right start! Notice his sweet, gentle behavior
even at a
canter showing through in the photo!
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02/04 UPDATE:
Merlin
received a wonderful gift
this week. Heidi Henry of NY donated an adorable blue winter
blanket to help him through this unusually bitter winter. Heidi also
sent 2
other pony blankets and a broad range of other horsey items to help
Merlin and
the other Crosswinds charges. THANK YOU HEIDI! Heidi shares that she
hadn't seen
Merlin's picture when she sent the blanket, but that he looks very much
like her
beloved Stormie, the pony who crossed the Rainbow Bridge to whom the
blanket had
belonged. We sincerely hope Merlin's photos give Heidi warm memories of
Stormie
as much as it will give Merlin warm moments these cold, cold months. |
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08/04
UPDATE: Merlin has
been showing and doing wonderfully! Here Merlin meets a person in a
giant costume of Geoffrey the Toys R Us Giraffe -- and handling it
great! Merlin
was exposed to parade conditions that day -- including motorcycles,
4wheelers,
fire trucks, tractors, crowds, helicopters and more! -- besides
meeting
Geoffrey, although his rider's nerves lead to them not actually riding
in the parade. |
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10/04 UPDATE: Merlin
placed first in Walk Trot at the Champaign County
Fair, and has really bloomed into an adorable little show pony! Merlin
has since
shown in numerous other shows, placing wonderfully in walk/trot and
cantering
classes, as well as enjoying learning the basics of gaming classes such
as
barrels and poles.
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11/04 UPDATE: Merlin goes home! "Horsin' Around Trucking" picked
up Merlin at
7AM Sunday morning (11/14/04) to take him to the Angotti's.
(left
- Merlin's ride; center, Merlin loads at sunrise; right, Merlin
meeting
his next door neighbor!)
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MEET
MERLIN'S BABY! Merlin was actually an
immature stallion when
he came to us, despite our being told he was gelded and his coggins
listing him
as gelded. He bred a member's mare, Rosie, who was
here for training. See Rosie's and Merlin's baby, Molly
in our adoptables area. |
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Notes from Merlin's
new Home: He's Here!!! Merlin
arrived about 7:15 this morning and seems to be doing just fine. He's
even cuter in real life! He didn't paw when he ate, just held his
foot up in the air. He is in a little paddock right now with four of
our gang next to him.
The trailer was
amazing he sure came in style. :)
We will definitely enjoy him and want to thank
you again for this amazing gift. I promise that he has a
wonderful home and to always keep you updated and send pics, hopefully
that will help you miss him a little less. Tell Tory thanks again and
she can visit whenever you are in the area.
My friend's
mare is becoming very loving and maternal towards him. He's seems to be
settling into the daily routine very well, and is sure loving the
attention. His first night here was like that scene from black beauty
when the taxi driver gets him and the whole family gathers around
petting and brushing him. Quite the Kodak moment.
Just wanted to
give you a quick update on Merlin. He is a very well mannered little
pony under saddle, when I free lunge him he can be a bit of a goober,
but under saddle he is a very good boy. He is fitting into the herd
very well and seems to have relaxed much more. I can't believe it has
been a whole month since he's been here. The farrier was here last week
and he was great for her as well. I think that he may have a future in
gaming as he is sooo fast and loves to run. Anyway, not a whole lot more to say except things have been going well
and we all love him dearly.
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03/07
update on Merlin: Merlin
is doing well! We hope to show him in leadline and gaming this show
season
depending on what happens. He is also turning into quite the little
hunter/jumper. He spends most of his days running around the pasture
jumping my
cross-country logs. :) He seems to really enjoy it. Unfortunately he
can already
jump about 2 feet and likes to pull the top boards of the fence down
and jump
into the other pasture - it is a very fun game! Other than being an
escape
artist w/typical pony attitude he is doing wonderfully, and we still
adore him
despite his mischievous ways. :) |
| 06/07
update on Merlin: Hi guys - Thought I send you a
little update on Merlin that would give you a good laugh. I believe
I've told you about his little game of pulling down fence boards a
jumping them; well he has decided to train my 8 yr old
palomino/appaloosa to do this as well. Being the little tag team that
they now are, they decided that it would be fun to do this trick w/the
fence that borders our local golf course. They decided that the perfect
time for this would be around dinner time on Sunday evening. So when my
mom and brother went to get the gang for dinner - Merlin and Aedan were
no where to be found. My brother quickly discovered where they had
escaped and mom ran up to the house to get me and call the golf course,
state troopers, and a few horsey friends. I ran to the barn
grabbed their halters, apologized to my other two horses for postponing
their feeding time, and headed off to the 13th hole, with my faithful
golden retriever and barn cat in tow.
Meanwhile, my brother is going the
other way to try to get behind them, yeah right! It was actually a good
thing that my appy got out, because at this point it was starting to
get a bit dark and without my huge 16.1 hand golden dufus I would've
never found that tiny little black pony amongst the trees. Anyway I
finally get near them and start heading them towards home. At about
hole 16 I managed to get my boy haltered up, Merlin was having to much
fun to get caught, and start walking back and wouldn't you know, the
bleeping sprinkler system goes off! So Merlin leaves in a panic, Aedan
following close behind (with my pic line in I can't really hold on
without ripping my arm apart so I let go). After much cursing, my
brother laughing at me thinking this is all utterly hilarious, I manage
to get them again, this time Merlin willingly being haltered. And we
all head back for the barn, our golden leaving us for home long ago,
but barn cat still strolling along behind us.
We get home without much incident
and sponge off the soaking wet horses, wait for
them to cool down to eat, and call it a night. But of course that isn't
all, the next morning who comes to the house but a state trooper. The
golf course is considering pressing charges - trespassing, vandalism
(as the hoof prints destroyed three separate greens), and one other ( I forget) - three charges for each horse!!!
We have managed to smooth things over, fencing fixed, double enforced,
etc... and my little boys will not have rap sheets... but they came
awful close. It just goes to show, parents will always bail their kids
outta trouble, even if they are the four legged kind!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed our
adventure, at the time it was not amusing to me... but looking back
well... it is pretty funny. And definitely something I'll never forget!
So thanks for adopting out the little Houdini to us... if nothing else
- with him everyday is an adventure! ~Kathleen
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