The Chariot

I might have a special fondness for the Chariot card since I loved having a Horse Drawn Carriage Business myself. If you have never been sitting up on the seat of a carriage with a big old horse in the front and a beautiful decked out carriage in the back in might be hard to fathom. Take my word for it. It is very special. Check out my past blogs on Horse and Carriage and you will see what I mean.

Donnar the wonderhorse

Los Angeles Times Story

Donnar at the Calabasas Inn

A photographer used us in his brochure

Donnar my not have been the pretties horse that ever lived but he was the sweetest animal ever. I bought him from a carriage company in Pennsylvania and had him shipped. It took 3 days before he arrived and I assumed when they unloaded him out of that trailer he was going to be full of energy. He calmly walked out and I lead him to the backyard and let him go. Up went his lip and he gave me the biggest grin I have ever seen. He was so happy he just dropped to his knees and rolled in the dirt for about 5 minutes. I knew right then I had found the perfect horse. He was half draft horse half quarter horse so although small he was strong. He hitched right up to the carriage and never made a mistake. A dream horse.

Christmas Eve he got into the shed and ate way to many oats and got very very sick. He got colic. He could barely stand up and he would just drop to his knees moaning. I had tried to find a vet who might come out and had a lot of trouble finding anyone. As it got dark he was not getting any better and I thought we were going to lose him. About 8:00 that night in the cool dark air, I sat next to him with his head on my lap, stroking his head and telling him he really needed to get better. He would get up and lay back down all the while I was trying to get him to eat or drink. Then suddenly as he lay with his head in my lap, I got him to start nibbling on some hay. After a few minutes he stood up and was fine. An entire Christmas Eve worrying that I was going to lose him.

Sampson the destructor

Sampson before a wedding.

Sampson tearing up the yard.

Wedding at Calabasas Inn, Calabasas California.

Although Tux was a great horse I was constantly getting requests for a white horse. I met a lady who had a Grey Percheron and she was willing to trade for my buckboard and that is how I ended up with Sampson. I personally feel she got the better end of that deal. Sampson was a pretty gelding but as I soon learned he had NO Patience for standing still very long. No matter how hard I worked with him when he was done that was it. He also liked to destroy anything in the yard. He was a one wave horse destructor. I came home one day to find he had drug the husbands 16 foot Hobie Cat sailboat completely across the yard. He drug things dumped things ate things you name it. We finally got some metal horse stalls in the back and would keep him in a stall. Every morning 6:00 AM sharp he would take that big old pie plate hoof of his and bang on the bottom rail of that horse stall until I got up and fed him. He literally had me at his mercy since he was waking up the entire neighborhood as well.

I ended up using Sampson for ceremony to reception carriage rides. That way I could wear him out enough so he would stand still at the end and let people take pictures of him. If it was super hot as well I found I could give him a work out first and then he might stand still for a ceremony. Needless to say although he looked great with the carriage I had to finally sell him. He was just to unreliable and unpredictable. Besides the fact he was very expensive to get shoes every six to eight weeks and very few horseshoers did horses that big. I will say that he was a fun horse to ride and he was good around people and children.

Tux and the T-shirt

Tux was an over sized dog. He would follow me with his nose in my neck all over the yard. When I would go around picking up manure he was always breathing down my neck. I would tell him to go find something else to do but he must have found great pleasure in me picking up after him. One day we were in the backyard and next door neighbors were adding a second floor to their house. There was a bunch of construction guys up on the roof. I was out picking up the daily poo. As usual Tux is breathing down my neck and nibbling in my hair and just being a general pain in the butt. I couldn't seem to convince him to move on. Kind of like having a wart on your butt. Well he decided to start nibbling on my t-shirt and I batted him away. He continued on. I told him to knock it off. He reached down grabbed my t-shirt and lifted it straight up over my head. Yes he flashed me in front of all those guys on the roof next door. I was stuck in this shirt pretty much at his mercy until he finally let it go. I turned around to smack him and he just had that big old lip up laughing his damn fool head off!! The guys certainly seemed to get a big kick out of it. All I could think was Thank God I had a bra on!! From then on I would put him up before the clean up.

Tux and the Schipperke

I adopted a little Schipperke dog named Skippy (original heh?). When I brought him home he immediately tried to take the husbands fingers off. The next day he bit the vet. Guess he was a good judge of character. He was always crazy about my dad so I am not sure it was a man issue. I had always heard these little dogs got a long with horses but Skippy took great care in tormenting Tux. He would antagonize him from sun up to sun down. Barking at him, running around him in circles and biting at his legs. Tux would often get enough and try chasing him all over the yard trying to stomp him but with no avail. I honestly thought one day Skippy would lose and get trampled but it never happened. So one morning I decided to tie Skippy up on the porch by the house with Tux's very long lunge line. I figured I would give poor Tux a break from the constant dog taunting. I went off to work but thought I would go home during the lunch hour to see how things were going. As I walked up to the back fence, I peak around to see the scariest thing ever!! Tux had decided to come up to the porch. I guess to see why the dog wasn't driving him crazy or to rub it about being tied up. When Tux had walked up to the porch, Skippy as usual had run around and around Tux until he had literally lassoed Tux up in the lunge line. Well Skippy ran out of leash at Tux's back hoof where he was stuck. Not having enough sense to reverse himself. Every time Tux would lift his back leg to shoo a fly he would pick up Skippy by the neck. Horrified I knew if I screamed or yelled it would send Tux running which in turn would cause Skippy's death and possibly Tux getting tripped up and falling. Either by hoof or hanging it was not going to be pretty. So I quietly and calmly opened the gate talking to them both in a very soft and calm matter. I walk over to Tux who was very happily napping under the porch and walked behind him and unhooked Skippy from the line. Then I carefully unwrapped Tux from his lasso. Needless to say I could no longer tie up the dog.

Tux and the Bouquet

I was actually a wedding florist before starting the Horse and Carriage Business. I still had some floral weddings to complete before being able to go whole hog into the carriage business. I was finishing up the bridal bouquet in the garage before my wedding delivery that afternoon. Tux was wondering around the yard as usual and the husband was working in the yard. I decided to go grab some lunch and told the husband I would be back in a few minutes. So I come back about 20 minutes later to find my husband sweaty and hot under the collar. He says "Your horse got in the garage while you were gone, I go see what he is doing in there just in time to see him grab the bridal bouquet you were working on. When he saw me, he took off with it in his mouth!! I had to chase him all over the lot trying to get the bouquet out of his mouth because he would not let go of it!! It is in the garage on the bench, or what is left of it anyway!!" Well I am rather confused so I go in the garage to find this old silk bouquet I had used at a bridal show a year or so prior. My 'then" husband was running around in the heat chasing my horse with a silk bouquet in his mouth!! I had put the Bridal Bouquet away in the cooler before leaving for lunch. There was nothing he could have really destroyed in there. Well needless to say I burst out laughing wishing I could have seen the chase!! It must have been pretty darn hilarious. I guess it was just a little payback for the biting retaliation. A kooky horse with a little revenge in him. Gotta love that!!

I adopted a Goofball

The second day we had Tux home, I happened to look out my large sliding door to see my then husband (who was not a horse person) thinking he was training Tux to walk by his side with no lead rope or halter. I kind of chuckle and roll my eyes and think that is not such a good idea but hey what do I care. They are in the back yard close to the house and the shirtless husband was blabbering on with Tux walking by his side. I then see Tux reach around a bite him square in the back!! At this point Tux curls his tail up over his back and takes off knowing he is in a boatload of trouble.

My husband chasing and cursing him all the way down to the end of the property. Well at the end of the lot was a sidewalk that ran across the width in front of the future horse stalls. When Tux reached the sidewalk he realized there was no more room to run and sharply turns to try and turn around. But with those lightweight slippery horseshoes all four legs fly out from underneath him and he slams into the cement. With all the momentum he continued to slide full force on his side all the way to the chain link fence where he finally runs into it and stops.

I am freaking out thinking the horse is dead, broke a leg you name it. At this point the husband catches up to Tux and the horse is just lying there not moving. He walks up to Tux sticks his foot squarely on this neck close to his head, bends over and gets right in Tux's face and yells " And don't you ever do that again!!" He removes his foot, turns around and walks off. I am still running for the horse to make sure he hadn't broken a leg. About that time Tux gets up, shakes off and walks away. I turn back to see my husband with the huge bite in his back walking towards the house still cursing I turn back look the horse over, not a scratch on him.

You know that horse never bit anyone again.

My Adopted Horse

I think I was born on a horse practically. I rode and showed horses for most of my young life. When I wanted to own one again I needed a way from them to pay for themselves and so Bayberry Carriage Company was born.

Did I know how to drive a large carriage? No. So I went off and took lessons on the biggest horses alive. I think the guy who was teaching me got great pleasure handing me that hundred pound harness on a horse six foot tall. Of course I had to learn to ground drive before he would ever hook me up to a cart. I think he also got his jollys watching these three thousand pound animals drag me all over the dirt for an hour every week as well.

It was pure hell. I finally had enough of that and bought myself a Welsh pony and cart. I practiced and got the feel for it sold the Welch and bought a Morgan horse and an old buckboard. I owned him for approximately three months before he died of a huge intestinal stone. That was a large expense gone and my dream with it so I thought. But when you are out of money you get creative.

I read an article about how the harness track would let people adopt horses for $25.00. So I called and got on the list. Well I got a call one day they had a horse available. Loaded the trailer and made my 2 hour drive to the track. By the time my husband and I got there the horse had been adopted by someone else. I almost just sat down in the dirt and cried. I think the guy could see the huge disappointment on my face and said there might be another horse available but he would have to check.

A few minutes later he asked if I would like to see him. This horse had been stalled for over 6 weeks eating oats everyday and I noticed he kept trying to bite the stable hand. But they got him out of his stall and lead him around a minute, then the hispanic stable hand jumped on his back. No problem. Then they told me he had never been in a horse trailer and as a person who knows horses that is NOT good. So I said "Well if he will load I will take him". I was extremely doubtful he was going to walk in that trailer. I wasnt up for a two hour fight with a rank horse. Darn if he didnt walk right in that trailer.

A two hour ride home and we let him lose in the back when we got home. This is his first picture. Pretty isnt he? He had a blast running around,bucking and rolling in the dirt. We just let him be the first day home. What a change from being in an barn cooped up and teased by staple hands. The first thing on my list was to call the vet and get him gelded. And name him. Since he would be someday pulling a carriage for weddings we liked the name Tux. And if we ever got another we would call him Tails. Clever weren't we?