Long Leaf Farm

09/08/2024

10/19/2023

Who…me?? 🤫

10/14/2023

I guess after 40 years in horses…I’m finally considered a Rookie. 😂😭

09/23/2023

08/27/2023

Darling Cora left for her new home today. Many mixed emotions but mostly sad. It’s tough to admit that I just can’t break babies anymore and don’t have the desire for greenies. We only have 2 horses on the farm now, Journey and Icy. Merlot is on lease in Aiken being a surrogate for Westphalian USA and Comet has been leased for over a year by super girl who has taken great care of him. I guess I’m just one step closer to selling the farm and retiring to Puerto Rico…right? Or is it time to start horse shopping? The positive about Cora’s sale is that she’s just over in Aiken and I’ve been given permission to stalk her FB. 😂

08/06/2023

Lol. This is about right. Just wanted a pic of Journey but Cora didn’t want to be left out. Journey didn’t want her in the pic!

07/21/2023

I’m super proud of this cross and both foals are exceptional. Almost makes me want to delve into breeding again … but all my mares are out on assignment now! This is Longleaf Crystal Clover, 2021 RIDSH by Gemstone Clover out of Dublin’s Diamond xx.

04/29/2023

Turned all 4 girls out together for the first time since Cora was weaned six months ago. They blended like they’d never been separated. Good girls.

04/12/2023

Happy Birthday to Longleaf’s Irish Heart AKA Cora. Hard to believe she was ever that small!

04/08/2023

Little Cora getting her feet trimmed this morning. She got her mane pulled this week too, but she’s got that thick Connemara split mane so I have to do each side individually! She’ll officially be a yearling on Tuesday.

03/26/2023

Cora is 2 weeks short of her 1st birthday and for giggles I did the “string test” on her today. Just a hair shy of 17 😲😲! Say it isn’t so! As of today, she’s just a hair over 14 hands and still wearing a weanling halter!

02/26/2023

Can’t wait to see her all shed out. She’s got such chocolatey sooty patterns…hoping we’ll see some sooty dapples.

02/05/2023

Cora was really excited to see the sun this afternoon!! ☀️

12/15/2022

The girls are checking out our Christmas visitor.

11/20/2022

She used to be a cowgirl before fear and doubt crept in. She used to swing a leg over any old horse in the corral and ride hell bent and fast over the land. She used to be a cowgirl before she was a mother and a wife. She used to be at the barn from sun-up to sundown before she was cooking breakfast, driving carpool and tending to heart matters. She used to be a cowgirl before the world called her to make a dollar. She used to train c**ts, craft leather and make goods to get by just to ride her horse another day instead. She used to be a cowgirl full of grit, faith and fearless before she doubted her ability and the horse she rode. She used say ‘what the hell’ and give it all she had. She used to be a cowgirl, but now she doesn’t just climb on the cold-backed, snorty c**t with a grin. She hesitates and is a little scared now and again. She used to be a cowgirl, but real life has changed her some as responsibilities pull at her heart, breaking it now and again. She wouldn’t change being a mother, a wife, or a bread winner for her family; those are great accomplishments. But if you see her starting to let the housework slide now and then, that she says it’s cereal for dinner, or she pays a late fee on the power bill, that’s because she’s reprioritizing her heart a little- she’s making room for the things that speak most to her. The barn, the outdoors, the horses, and her cowgirl spirit are calling. It’s her balance; a piece of her she’s not willing to give up. If you find her at the corral instead of the stove, she’s rekindling her heart flames and shoring up her foundation so she can be all she needs to those she loves. Because she used to be a cowgirl, and a damn good one at that.

Written by me, Heather Countryman ©

11/13/2022

Got this video of Finley romping around with his new friends. Just thrilled that he’s got kids to play with. And yes, that’s a dusting of snow!

11/12/2022

Finley left this morning for the rolling pastures of Kentucky. I heard it was snowing there this morning!