Plus our regular late fall update - open tours and projects

Sometimes its best to get the sad news out of the way first. Malenna, our fiesty opinionated cranky energizer bunny pony has passed. We found her in the pasture, laying down, no sign of a struggle.  It looks like she just went to sleep and was gone.  She was somewhere in her 40s, the equivalent of a human of 110. We first met Malenna when she was in her 20s.  She came to us from End Of The Line horse rescue, pulled from an auction.  We know nothing of her history.  She came to us thin, pregnant (she lost the foal), with faded pink polish on her hooves and a strong dislike for children and nonsense. Malenna become a bit of a farm mascot, in spite of her general dislike of socializing with strangers.  Guests enjoyed watching her antics as she galloped around the fields or hung out in the barn, living with the big girls and getting her way in all things.  So often we would hear the thunder of hooves as the herd raced up the big pasture, followed shortly by an impatient neigh and the fast thump of tiny hooves saying "hey, wait for me" as she ran to keep up.  She was never hesitant to put a big horse in her place with a well-placed kick and an angry squeal.  Arlo, our newest livestock guardian dog, determined early on that ponies are demons in disguise after Malenna kicked him for nibbling her hoof trimmings and then trying to nibble her hoof, during a pedicure.  After that, he had a special alert bark whenever she came within view. In the last year, she had started to slow down, and her metabolic issues were starting to catch up with her.  We wondered and worried how she would do this winter and had been making plans for a special pen near the house where she could be coddled and fed senior feed and fussed over.  In true Malenna fashion, she exited on her own terms, never mind our plans. We will miss her antics and her adorable whinny and her strong opinions. In other news, we have always made it a practice to regularly evaluate our programs and drop anything that either was not helping the farm, or that we felt we could not deliver quality up to our standards.  With that in mind, we will be suspending our current version of Patreon and cancelling any automatic billing before the next billing cycle.  We have loved offering the exclusive content, but are finding that we cannot deliver quality and consistency as we go into winter with a plate full of projects.  We may continue to offer specific animal sponsorships if the demand is there - stay tuned for updates.  We have left the link in the newsletter if anyone wants to view the previous posts or check out the individual animal sponsorships. Visit our Patreon page Tours are open this fall and winter! We are even open during daylight on the holidays. We have an indoor space to get out of the cold! Come and meet our rabbits in Bunnyville, or enjoy Playtime With Goats or perhaps take our goats for a scenic hike around the farm. Horse tours and riding should be returning soon - please see our website for updates. Book a tour Share Tweet Forward Sign up for our newsletter Copyright © 2022 Barakah Heritage Farm LLC, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.