- April 2009 Tess
- Josey had 13 pups in 9 hours. Cindy was there for all. Of course, Peter was doing a seminar!
- This is Lucy. She protects our sheep.
- Josey and her pup, Gunner out for a swim.
- Small sure footed agile mules and smooth gaited horses is what we prefer for rough Mountain riding.
- 3 Week Old Pup
- ”Sassy” and ”Oreo”, our boys´ LaMancha goats. (I´ll throw them in with the goose.) When the kids play ”explorer”, they load the goats up with saddle packs filled with cokes and sandwiches. The goats just follow them in our timber. We use them to clear fence lines of weeds and brush.
- Josey at 6 Years
- Gunner: a combo of Josey and Chaka…oops
- Frank and Jessie A good, honest team
- Chaka III and Given
- Solo & Josey This is ”Solo”, Chaka´s baby at 4 months. Spitting image of her mama. She´s been adopted by ´Josey´ who is teaching her all the characteristics of the wrong breed!
- Chaka & Solo At the age of 5, Chaka gave birth to the only surviving pup out of three. We call her ´Solo´. She is also a pure bred Aussie Cattle Dog. ”Heelers” as they are nick-named, are decendents of the Austrailian Dingo. They are professional ”biters” of the heels of almost anything! Good training keeps them interested in 4 heeled animals rather than 2 heeled humans. All Heelers are born white and turn blue speckled, red speckled or tri-colored.
- ”Josey” stands watch over us all. She is a full grown Landseer Newfoundland, a relatively rare black & white version of the typical black or bronze Newfie. She´s kind of a jovial, friendly bar bouncer, who only steps in if all else fails. She has absorbed powerful horse kicks meant for Chaka´s puppy, whom she adopted, will take bee stings until kids can run clear, and has bit the nose of a young horse about ready to paw Peter´s son, Taylor.
- Tessa
- Solo
- This is Chaka IV at 6 months
- Reggie,our trusty guard donkey
- The ranch raises our own organic beef. No antibiotics, no steroids, no wormers. Good pastures and corn. Each of these calves will produce at least 400 lbs. of well marbled USDA choice Angus beef.
- This one doesn´t miss a thing: Chaka at almost 3 years.
- Chaka & Josey — Totally opposite skills making a great team.
- Chaka IV at 8 months
- Cindy welcoming home Chaka IV, our new cattle dog pup
- Chaka IV at 3 months
- At 6 months, little Chaka is starting to get the hang of his job.
- Chaka IV and Josey
- Chaka & Josey
- Chaka…always at the ready.
- Chaka
- Azizi A LaMancha goat. This is the only American breed of goat—they have small ears.
- This is Contesse. We call her Tess
- This is ……”AFLAC” (and if anyone wants him, we´ll gladly give him to you).
- Peter getting his quarterhorse, Peace, ready for Team Penning competition.
- The boys heading out to check calves.
- Isaac with a new mule pony to train.
- It was 14°F at 10 A.M. Time for the teams´ first break. They´ll stand unattended like that while Peter eats breakfast. When they´ve cooled down they´ll be watered and ready for round two.
- This black Percheron Draft horse is being broke for a handicap children´s riding program. This shot was taken 10 seconds after he was mounted for the first time. He ”rabbit hopped” twice, but never blew up. These are the type of horses used in the Rennissance Festival Jousting Competition.
- He´s not much for seminar speaking, but at 11, Isaac knows almost as much as most veterinary interns and more than most adult horsemen. That´s a 2,300 lb. draft horse he´s taking for a walk.
- Peter reunites with, Ed Wallace, his closest friend in High School.
- She´s a 3 year old pony. We bought her at an Amish auction for $250.00. He´ll put 60 days of training on her and then he will sell her to a ”foo foo family” as he calls it, for close to $1,000.00. She´ll be worth every penny. He´ll pay me for her feed and put the difference into buying his next ”project”
- Thanksgiving Day 2006
- Tall Pony Ranch Herd
- Coragio, Tennessee Walker
- A few of the herd waiting to be loaded for client mountain ride
- Some of our sheep and Lucy the Donkey
- Cowboy a 6 year old thorobred mule we broke and gave to Dennis Hawk our head wrangler for Xmas.
- Isaac & Perry.
- Flint a 16.1 Missouri Foxtrotter, Peter’s private mount.
- This is Paula the newest addition to the Tall Pony herd.
- Peter´s personal mount, Rambler, 6 year old Missouri Foxtrotter
- Sue, 5 year old mare Tennessee Walking Mule
- Peter´s Missouri State Champ, Fidus. Right out of a glutenous winter, 200#s overweight!
- For the mountain and rough trail riding our stock is trained and conditioned in, horse shoes have a metal compound (drill tech) welded onto 4 places on the shoe giving the horse a more secure ”bite” into the ground for surefootedness
- Coragio: a 10 year old red roan Tennessee Walking Horse. This is Peter´s personal lead horse and the one he uses in the 20 mile fox hunts he does on weekends with Isaac.
- 5 year old Tennessee Walker: Patches
- Fidette: one load carrying spin on a dime trail mule.
- Fred Mau: one of Peter´s suppliers of Mountain broke Tennessee Walkers.
- Ranch and Mountain ready.
- Easy and JR sparring in their first meeting.
- Thanksgiving trail ride.
- This is Big Mo´: a 17h , 5 year old Tennessee Walker saved from the high stepping show world.
- This is Easy: 15´1” hand registered Tennessee Walker. We use him for 20 mile rides. Smooth as silk.
- Peter riding Smoke, a Missouri Fox Trotter on a client trail ride to the Ozark Mountains.
- Copper: 13.3h stout paint pony. Peter used to hunt off him. Wasn´t an obstacle he wouldn´t jump over. Peter gave him to Isaac to train to jump. He later was used as a foxhunting pony by Ike. Little guy cleared 3´6” fences and stayed up with the big thoroughbreds for 15-20 miles.
- An incredibly well bred cattle working Quarter Horse that happens to be 100% gaited. Go figure. One of Peters´ personal horses.
- We called him ”Maybe”. Maybe we´ll keep him, maybe not. He had a collapsed larynx and couldn´t get air. 1st surgery he busted a stitch and had to redo him. 2nd took. Magnificent horse that taught Isaac to show jump.
- Power is a stout, well made 15.1 hand Fox Trotting Mule.
- Isaac and Perry in both their first National level shows. 2´6” jumps. They both competed against professional riders and horses.
- Power: 13 year old Fox Trotter mule.
- Perry is part of a team of driving brothers. 16 hands 1/4 Percheron and 3/4 Quarter horse. He and his brother were broke to pull President Reagans´ casket at Arlington Cemetary. Trainer lost his contract and I bought them from him. He is still used as a carriage horse but Isaac hunter/jumps him and Fox Hunts him as well.
- Shug.
- Cut her ears off and you have a horse…what a well built mule should look like.
- Cindy´s Tennessee Walking Horse, Shug.
- Now the blue heeler, Chaka, bites at the heels to move them off and while the big dog, Josey, runs at their side to guide them in a straight line. The team work is amazing
- Peter sends Josey and Chaka (herding dogs) to the right of the herd to bunch them and send them on their way for pasture rotation.
- 12 year old ”Power”. Missouri Foxtrotting Mule……
- Peter and Shug in the St. Patrick´s Day Parade.
- Peter & his buddy, Ed Grey, showing off Tall Pony Ranch stock at the St. Patrick´s Day Parade.
- One of Tall Pony´s pretty mules.
- A collection of Peter´s mules going back to the pasture after a student trail ride.
- This is ”Peace”. Peter´s team penning quarter horse, carrying the TPR brand.
- Team of draft Fjords waiting to play ”taxi”.
- Three of Peter´s big ranch mules. They´ll do anything a ranch horse can, except stronger, smarter and more sure footed.
- Our brand TPR
- ”Butch” 2000lbs paint draft horse
- What we call a gentle eye.
- ”Sundance”…17.3 hands at age 3.
- Tall Pony Ranch Herd
- “Shug”
- Jesse and the Snowman.
- Shug and Jet coming up to water.
- Peter, using Cindys´ horse, Shug, to gather the other 7 horses.
- Mules produced from high performance purebred horses show the exact same characteristics as their parents. What they gain is the strength, surefootedness and superior intelligence of the donkey. This mule, Fidus, ropes, barrel races, and competes in western pleasure competition. Took 3rd and 4th at State Fair 2001 against hundreds.
- Couple of yearling quarter horse mule colts going into their first winter.
- Chubb and Tubb: Peters´ Percheron team. Each horse weighs approx. 2100 lbs. and stands 18 hands tall. They are dog gentle and totally trustworthy.
- Thunder is a 14 year old French Percheron, (a French Budweiser horse!). We lost his team mate in ´01 and need a retained search firm to find another match! No luck. He is 18.1 hands and almost 2300 lbs. He is a giant even among draft horses. He is hooked to a ”fore-cart”, the sit down link between horse and farm implements.
- This is Peter´s first horse, ever. As all the kids grew up, they all had a chance to own ”Jett”. Out of a famous stud name Two-Eyed Jack, Jett has worked cows, been a rodeo ”pick-up” horse, and a great partner for solitary treks in the Qzark mountains. Believe it or not, this horse is almost 30 years and is still the fastest horse we´ve got. Around here he´s a legend.
- This was another buy-train-sell project for Peter. They are Norwegian Fjords, pony sized draft horses. Peter broke them for farm work and riding. Not the sharpest axes in the shed, but gentle, compliant, all purpose horses.
- The big white French Percheron with a watchful eye on ´his´ band, we call ”Thunder”. He is used for draft work.
- August heat is on. The Bay Quarter horse colts on the right, Peter bought to break as light wagon horses. The pony is Isaac´s (age 11), first venture into business. He bought her right, is training her and preparing her to sell. The ”Long Ear” at the left is Peter´s show mule ”Fidus”.
- Some of our mules
- Shug—a registered Tennessee Walking Horse.
- Jesse, 16.2h Percheron draft horse. Broke to ride and drive.