BriarCroft--the week of our regional fair in Lynden. This is the
twelfth year we've been there, promoting the Haflinger breed in a well
decorated display, providing 24 hour a day coverage for the horses for
the 6 days of the fair. We begged the Fair Board for 5 years to allow
us to display at the fair, and they finally said "okay, here's the
space, build it yourself" and we did! We are a freebie, not under
contract like the draft hitches and the Crazy 8's shetland pony
hitches. We pay alot of $$ for the privilege of being there every year,
rather than be paid! And we are not there for classes, competition, or
ribbons. We are there because people enjoy our Haflingers and we enjoy
the people.
Every year we evaluate whether we have the energy and resources to do it
again--for the initial 6 years when Dan and I were the sole farm doing
the display, it meant a week of vacation from work, and very very long
days, juggling our small children as well as several horses. Now, with
the help of 3R Farms (the Rodenbergers) and Teaglach Farm (the McKees),
as well as older children, we are able to rotate shifts, still work at
our "real" jobs part days, share duties and expenses and spend the week
together. The older kids can watch the younger kids, the inbetween kids
do most of the horse stall cleaning duty, and the adults can sit and
shoot the breeze. And twice a day we harness and tack up for a breed
demonstration in front of the grandstand.
Does this sell horses for us? Not really. But it sure does create good
will for the fair visitors who depend on us every year to be there with
horses that they and their children can actually pet (and sit on )
without fear, who enjoy our braiding demonstrations, and our various
Haflinger trivia contests with prizes.
Most of all, why we must continue to do this, is that we provide what
dreams are made of. I'm not sure how many times a day there will be a
bright eyed child who approaches our stalls, climbs up on the step
stools and reaches up to pet a Haflinger nose or neck and looks deep
into those big brown Haflinger eyes, and loses their heart forever to
the breed. They will not forget that moment when a horse they had never
met before loved them back. Haflingers are magic with children and we
see that over and over again.
Here is an example that I must share:
In 1992, a mom and her 6 year old son came up to our stalls, as do some
10,000 people a day, and spent a long time petting the horses and
talking to them, and enjoying them. They walked off, with the little
boy looking over his shoulder at the Haflingers until they turned a
corner and went out of sight. An hour later they were back and spent
more time with the Haflingers. I offered the little boy a chance to
sit on a Haflinger, and he agreed readily, and sat and sat and sat,
playing with the mane and petting the shoulder and neck and was simply
in heaven, quietly dreaming his own dreams on the back of a horse. His
mom told me that they lived in a suburb near Seattle, but always spent
this particular week in August at a local beach cabin, and the fair was
one of their favorite activities each year. Her son Gary had never had
an opportunity to sit on a horse before.
Next year, they were back, and Gary was a little taller, but still a
quiet boy, and he kept dragging his mom back to the Haflingers, and
she'd sit and visit as he'd sit on the Haflingers. He watched as we
watered the horses, or fed them hay, or cleaned their stalls, and pretty
soon he was asking if he could do the scooping, or dump the buckets or
brush the horses. So he became, out of his own initiative, a helper.
By the time he was 8, he was spending several hours at a time with us at
the stalls, taking his turn at the chores, and his mom, trusting that he
was in good hands, and that he certainly wasn't going to wander away
from the Haflingers, would check back with him now and then to see if he
wanted to go on rides, or see a performance, and his response was always
"no, I can do that anytime, but I don't get to see Haflingers very
often!" He would talk a little about his hope someday to have a farm
where he could raise Haflingers, and one year even said that his folks
were looking at property to buy with acreage, but apparently a job for
his dad didn't materialize, so he remained a city kid in reality, even
if he was a future farm kid in his heart.
He was one of our regular kid helpers every year until he was 12 when he
started turning out for junior high football, and the football summer
camp coincided with our fair week, so we'd only see him briefly on
Saturdays as he got into his teens. He'd stop by to say hi, pet the
horses, catch up on the Haflinger news, and because he only had a few
hours to spend at the fair, he'd head off to other things. I really
missed him and his happy smile around the stalls.
When he was 15, I missed seeing him because I was working when he
stopped by. When he stopped by last year, at age 16, he strolled up to
me and I found I was looking up at this young man who I had to study to
recognize. I'm a tall woman of 5'10"--he was at least 4 inches taller
than me! He told me he wanted to come by because some of his best
summer memories were of spending time with the Haflingers at the fair
and he wanted me to know that. He thanked me for welcoming him and
allowing him to "hang out" with the Haflingers. He told me his hope and
dream someday was to live somewhere where he could raise Haflingers, and
he was working hard in school so he could make that happen. He was a
near 4.0 student and the first string quarterback on his high school
football team. I was as proud as if he was my own son.
Yesterday, his mom stopped by the Haflinger display. She said Gary, now
17, was turning out daily for football, but was hoping to drive up from
Seattle to visit the fair on Saturday. She said he was now 6'6" tall
and this summer, before his high school senior year had even started,
had already been offered a full ride scholarship for football in 2004 at
Washington State University. He was keeping his grades up and hoped to
remain uninjured this year in football so he'd be eligible for the
scholarship. And he still talks about his future Haflinger farm. Wow.
I hope I see Gary on Saturday--it would be great to see this tall
accomplished young man who so recently was a shy quiet little city boy
of 6, draped across the broad back of a Haflinger, and lost in his
dreams of a "someday" Haflinger of his own. This is why we must do what
we do for Haflingers. It is for people like Gary who make a connection
with a horse and never ever forget it. I'd like to think that a little
bit of who Gary is and what he is becoming is because he has a dream of
a horse farm that he has held onto all these years.
Happy Haflinger dreams to you all and many blessings to those of you who
are out there promoting the breed because it is the right and best thing
to do, even if there are no ribbons, or premiums or status to be
won--you are winning hearts for the breed and that is what really matters.
Emily from BriarCroft