Wings of Iris

cousins

every little girl wants a pony and our lucky little one actually gets to have one!  well, she is part owner of a sweet horse with her youngest cousin Evan.  the horse is a great granddaughter of Secretariat and is named for Justin's grandmother Iris, a wonderful soul who passed earlier this year.

Justin's brother Tony is the head trainer for the thoroughbreds at Flag is Up Farms.  last week we had the opportunity to attend an open house at the farm and meet owner Monty Roberts as they showed off their program.  in the past, race training for horses has been notably cruel and ill-handled.  Monty's philosophy, and ultimately everyone's who works for him, shows that abusive training is completely unnecessary.  it was amazing to watch a live demonstration of his join-up and hallway gate methods.  and of course Saraya just loved watching, petting and feeding some new friends.

up the long, beautiful driveway

just a cowboy taking his little goat for a walk

 

meeting Wings of Iris for the first time...

what do you mean i can't take her home?

our little babe, taking the bull by the horns (with a little help from grandma d)

feeding the mini horse!

i got to love on some horses too!  this grulla is the most gorgeous grey (even though he looked a little brown in this pic)

checking out where the horses shower

hallway gate training

Monty demonstrating his join up method of training