Well, Summer is here in NY. Plenty of hot humid weather to drive me inside. That is good news for the site. I will have time to continue building the sister site Everything Gypsy, and also pursue tracing bloodlines. If things go well by late summer the site will be complete.

I am proud to say the site has close to 80 stallions from around the world currently listed. Word of mouth is bringing in new stallions each week. I want to take a moment and thank all of you for your support and allowing us to showcase these handsome fellas.

Over the next few weeks I will be updating and slowly moving the site into state by state and country by country organization. The stallions will be alphabetized for easier viewing. I am working on site width, as some have asked for full page coverage while viewing. I am tackling that problem now.

Hope this post find you all well!- B 

December, of 2006. On a day, no different than any other, our two mares became ill. Not thinking too much of it, we brought them in from their pasture in the barn. We had a new shipment of hay come in early that week. Thinking they were mildly colicky we administered banamine and let them rest. When checked a hour later, both were quiet. No further signs of colic. By that night, it became clear that Aislen was feeling fine, but, Wyn was very dull.  I took her temp and realized then, it wasn't colic. Wyn had a VERY high temp. Actually nearing 106. We spoke with our vet and gave her more meds. I stayed with her and she remained dull all night. By 3 AM it was as if she didn't even know I was in the stall with her. Her temp finally broke. She then appeared unsteady. I spoke with the vets again. They felt due to the high temp that she was developing laminitis. They said to poultice her feet. As I struggled to do this, I figured she was uncomfortable bearing weight on the opposite leg. Later it would become clear why. Our vet arrived at 7AM to exam Wyn. When she did the rectal exam it showed an impaction and that her bladder was massive. She had not voided any urine on her own. She was still very dull. While waiting for the let to gather her supplies Wyn began to become listless and kept leaning on me. She kept pushing forward. Both the vet and I realized at that point she was suffering from a severe neurological problem. We attempted to walk her forward and the ataxia and head pressing became more pronounced. We paused for a moment to evaluate and consider a course of action. She stood in the corner pressing her head. On further exam we found she was blind. The situation deteriorated. I spoke with the insurance company to get consent for euthanasia. It was clear to the vet and I that she was profoundly suffering. With great sadness we put our sweet Wyn to sleep. She became ill at 4PM the evening before. By 10 the next morning we had lost her. Not even 24 hrs had elapsed. You're probably wondering at this point what would cause such a rapid death. We did everything we could. Wyn was released to Cornell University for necropsy. The state of NY tested for rabies. After all the testing, one lesion was found in her brain. Less that 2cm in diameter. There were no answers, only questions....

    After a very lengthy quarantine and testing of all the other horses, we were given an all clear. It was a huge blow for us, our business and our clients. The strict biocontainment precautions took their toll. But, we got through it without losing another horse.

    From there we have tried to move on. There will never again be a sweet momma Wyn. Her colt is now a 2 yr old chunky boy becoming a stallion. I have no regrets. She taught us to love this breed and there is no going back. As I am sure you all know, it is impossible to have just one. As our herd has expanded we have done everything we can to become educated about the breed. I wish I had before embarking on the journey. That is water well under the bridge now. With the start of this site I hoped to create one central location for information about cobs, vanners, tinkers, or any other name which one chooses to call them.