Probert Farms

09/18/2025

2025 September 18: Our snuggly baby bear turns 18 today. Kieran, we are so proud of the life you are building for yourself and we hope you know how much we love you.

09/02/2025

Hey Sussex County! Get your 4-H new year enrollment done and sign up for animal science day!

05/14/2025

The final horse! Horse No. 13 is Kudos. He is a small medium or large small pony, half welsh. Gray. About 18 years old. His life before Probert Farms is a bit of a mystery but we know that he knows his way around a pony hunter course and loves a good trail ride. He rode on the beach like a champ, which despite what horse girl fever dream movies might lead you to believe, is not typical. He is adorable and funny, he is a good teacher. We will be bringing him back into work slowly, fattening him up, and giving him lots of hugs.

05/13/2025

I thought I only had 12 horses but Gizmo is horse No. 12 and there is still one left in the paddock so… Gizmo is a 7ish year old mustang who was born in holding, which means his dam was in foal when she was gathered. He looks tall, but every time I stick him he is barely 14hh. He carries his head high and has a big way about him. He is bay roan pinto with an interesting question mark star. Gizmo moves more like an Arabian or Iberian horse than most mustangs I’ve seen.

He is still very green, but smart and willing. I had him restarted, and now my teen friend Chloe works with him. She showed him at a dressage show last fall and plans on showing him at ESWHSA shows and the fair this summer.

Gizmo has a fabulous mane and a striking presence and he loves attention- he loves attention so much that he wants to show you his manhood. He shows his manhood so often I wondered if maybe he retained some testicles up in there (Frolic is looking a little fat…) but I had a look and determined he’s just proud not proud cut. Welcome to the life of an equestrian.

05/12/2025

Horse No. 11 is Tina Tuner. She needs no introduction, she is simply the best. No idea how tall she is- is she a mini? A shetland? A little of both? Who knows. She is too big for your pocket, but small enough to tuck into your carry on. Liver chestnut with flaxen mane. About 6 years old. She was a babysitter for weanling standardbreds at her last home. Here, she runs around like a cute little maniac. We do use her showmanship and the teen girls are working on her riding skills so that she can do leadline and maybe even be a walk/trot mini someday.

05/11/2025

Starlight Mint Mocha was born on September 9, 2023. Her dam is Piper (chestnut heterozygous tobiano grade pony mare) and her sire is Forest Midnight Comet (blue roam heterozygous tobiano registered paint). She had a 75% chance coming out pinto, but chose Bay Roan instead. She is gorgeous and friendly and moves like a dream. We call her Moose because she, like all brown foals, looked like a baby moose. It stuck, and now it just suits.

I had sent Piper to the stud in 2020, but she didn’t catch. I sent her and Frolic in Sept 2022 with low expectations being as it was late in the season. The weather got stormy, and both mares seemed to stop cycling. They had inseminated Piper one day when they thought there might have been a viable egg, but the next day she was shut down so they sent her home and said we could try again the next year.

Over the next few months, we suspected Piper was in foal and after some false starts and much doubt, Moose was born on a warm summer evening. Piper was an outstanding mother and Moose is a joy, so it has crossed my mind to repeat the breeding someday.

I hope to show Moose in halter classes this summer. She has a stock horse type shape and movement. She currently stands about 14.0hh, so it would be amazing for her to mature around 15.2 or so. I see her as my future English Pleasure mount and the type of horse that anyone can ride and enjoy.

05/11/2025

05/09/2025

Horse No. 8 High Meadows Mando barn name Badger. 9ish years old. Born black piebald, now dapple gray piebald. Probably will turn fully white over the next few years so we must enjoy his color now. Irish Cob-type, draft cross? Connemara in there maybe? 15.3ish. He was born in Northern Ireland, and has the weirdest UK passport ever that lists him as a polo pony. As if he could ever be that nimble.

Badger is a Disney Princess horse. He is the horse a knight could ride as long as the knight didn’t go anywhere near an irrigation pivot. He is a solid second flight foxhunter for a cast or two, and then he is ready for the flask and a nap.

Badger currently lives nearby with my dear friend Laurel where he is spoiled rotten and does lots of dressage. Laurel and Badger were the high point champions at our local dressage series for Intro Level last year- I am so proud and so happy to share his goofy spirit with everyone that loves him.

05/09/2025

Horse No. 7 is Cloonan Kris better known as Casper. He is a Connemara, born in Ireland in 2015 and also holds an Irish passport. I’ve never had him officially measured, but when I stick him he waffles between 14.2 and 15.1 depending on how big I want him to be that day. Plausible pony deniability.

Casper is wise beyond his years. He is not terribly fast and needs plenty of pilates to keep his left bend on-point, and he often chooses terrible times to p*e (ie mid jump course) but he is kind and honest and tries hard.

Casper is the horse I can loan to anyone for the foxhunt and I know he will be a gentleman. He teachers leadliners and walk/trotters how to start, stop and steer, but also can turn out a heck of a nice dressage test and gallop across the countryside (for a few minutes, at least.)

Casper is a true unicorn, a fan favorite, and I am lucky to have him.

05/07/2025

Horse No. 6 is Moneyquid Misty Girl. Dapple gray, 16.2hh. Misty was born in Ireland in 2015. Her sire is a registered Irish draught, so she is considered an Irish Sport Horse and carries an Irish passport. I don’t know about her dam, but Misty is quite draughty in body type, so she is probably a pretty low percentage of thoroughbred or warmblood.

I got Misty because I was foxhunting Declan twice a week and had big dreams of eventing, and I knew he was getting older so I couldn’t ride him quite that hard. Misty loves foxhunting. LOVES it. We were once at a dressage show where she heard a pack of dogs barking in the distance and went FULL ON alert and nearly jumped out of the arena.

She is generally all business, a very independent mare who doesn’t fuss, but she gets excited and has occasionally serious FOMO. One time, I was leading a trail ride with 3 kids in Redden. I dismounted to help one, and went I tried to remount she got upset that she couldn’t see the other horses and took off into the woods. The police found her making friends with a donkey a few miles away.

While I own all of my horses on the property, Misty is “mine” alone. She is who I love to gallop wrecklessly through the fields. We work on dressage together, we muddle through equitation but mostly we love leaping logs and getting muddy.

05/06/2025

Next up, Horse No. 5 is Stuart Little aka Domino. Grade Pony of the Americas. Bay leopard appaloosa markings. About 10 years old. About 13.2hh. The Dalmatian Donkey. Marty the Zebra. If someone is screaming in the pasture, it’s Domino. He is a nosey busy body that wants to be friends with everyone but then gets up in their business and is shocked when they kick him. He is athletic but would rather you didn’t know it. He scored a mid 70s intro test with me at a fun trial and then dumped me on cross country so he could graze. Domino is an outstanding beach and wooded trail horse and 3rd flight foxhunter, but has a dirty stop when he gets sooooooo tired in the arena. He is one my best in-hand showmanship and trail horses, he pivots and jogs like a champ. He has a heart spot on his forehead that is designed to lure you in and make you love his puppy dog personality - and even when he drops his already low neck and gives a joyful buck that sends you flying into the mud, you can’t help but get back on.

05/05/2025

Horse No. 4 is One Stormy Morning. She is a purebred Welsh Sec A, about 11 hh, born here in 2021. Her sire is Menai Mister Mostyn and her dam is Whispering April Snow (our beloved deceased April.)

Stormy was born early on a Saturday morning in the cold rain about two weeks before I expected her. I didn’t witness her birth and I hadn’t even moved April alone yet. She was my first foal.

She was born bay, like her sire, but April was homozygous gray, so every year Stormy gets more and more white mixed in with her coat and will eventually be entirely white like her mom and sister (Frolic.) I will be sad when her matching rear socks and little moon star fade away.

Stormy has a big personality for a little pony and I look forward to starting her under saddle this year. She already does well on hand walks and the lunge, so I am sure she will be easy to train. They say to use your least favorite child for the training rides, but even my youngest is too small so I am going to have to borrow a few kids.