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The Birth of Timeless Farm
by
Stephanie Veloff-Histed, March, 2003
"I never once fathomed that
just the simple love for my animals
would drive me to create the working show facility it is today."
Initially, I set out to create a typical résumé that
listed my accomplishments. Instead, you will see the sequence of events
that started in my childhood and resulted in the birth of Timeless
Farm. Today, Timeless Farm reflects my effort to give aspiring students
an easier path to love and learn from these wonderful animals. And so
my story begins…
It’s
funny how events in your life help you travel down a path that you
never knew existed. How things happen for a reason
without ever realizing it. We all know that our experiences shape
us as human-beings. Aim us toward certain points in our life that
we never notice until we take a step back, to really take a close look
at how we got here and to appreciate it.
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I
was the typical kid that was crazy about horses and always wanted
one. |
I was the typical kid that was crazy about horses and always wanted one. That
sounds like every little girl out there. Doesn’t it? Of
course, I also had the typical parents that said “Save your money!” I
am very thankful that they decided to appease me by finding places where
I could
ride. However, I do have to mention that they had an ulterior motive. My
parents were, and will always be, the epitome of “Badger Football
Fanatic”! They were delighted to find a stable that had Saturday
lessons that kept children occupied the entire day. That meant
that they would be able to fully enjoy their season tickets at the football
games
that are, of course, held on Saturdays. I was equally delighted
that there was a place called Hoofbeat Ridge. It was specifically
created for horse crazy little kids like myself that never had the money
for a horse of
their own but would not be deterred from trying to indulge every horse
crazy fantasy.
 It seems so long ago. Yet, still fresh in my mind is the
fact that even as a toddler, I had to be on a horse. I soon discovered
that the dairy farm up the road had a horse and two ponies. They
were in desperate need of attention by said horse-crazy toddler and
I prepared
my speech accordingly. I approached the family and expressed that
these horses could not live without my devoted attention and would they
mind
if I spent all of my waking moments at their farm. Surprisingly
enough, they agreed and Johnny, Spook and Smokey became the best
friends a horse-crazy kid could ever have.
It
was while I was riding Johnny that I met a girl that was out
riding her horse. We became great friends and would ride
everywhere together. Through farmers' fields, woods and streams. We
built cross-country courses and jumped over everything possible. I
would even spend the night at her house with Johnny and we would go on
midnight
trail rides. One morning after a sleepover, we turned the horses
out in the pasture. Unbeknownst to us, we failed to shut the far
gate. Off
the horses went galloping through the fields and streams all the way
back to the dairy farm where Johnny lived. It was a few miles away
as the crow flies and it was a long hike for us as we ran after them. On
the way, we cut through another dairy farm only to notice in a little
pen the tiniest, cutest, most perfect little horse I had ever seen!
 Her
name was
Sparky.
She was black and white and only 35 inches
tall. When she realized we were standing there
losing our
minds
as to how insanely cute she was, she gave the cutest whinny and ran right
over to us. It took me no time at all to know that I had to have
her. Of course, we had to finish our trek and retrieve Johnny
and Torch before I could inquire about what it would take to own the
cutest pony ever. We finally caught up with them at the
dairy farm, tied twine to their halters and rode them bareback all the
way back to my friend’s
house.
 My
parents never knew what hit them. Sparky ended up costing thirteen
dollars and spent her first night at her new home in the garage. At least
she had a roof over her head! It’s funny how certain things never
occur to you as a kid…
like the fact that we had no horse food at my house...
...nor any horse fencing. Fortunately, my house
was on five acres and it was in the country. So I didn’t just bring
a pony into a suburban neighborhood although I would have!
Eventually, we did put up fencing and even built a little barn. And so
the horse collection began. Next came Lady -- my first normal
sized horse. Then my little sister Julie, who was very tiny, would
ride Sparky. We had tiny tack for her. It was so cute! She
even went in the Hunter Over Fences class at the Dane County Fair. The
show committee accommodated her by lowering the fences to nine inches. The
crowd went wild! Of course, my sister grew eventually and we then
got Rose. Even
though we were too big to ride Sparky, she was just too cute to not stay
in the show ring. We taught her to drive and she ended up being
the State Pony Driving Champion multiple years in a row.
Sparky was definitely a very important part of the family. We
would even bring her into the house! It was a sad day when
we lost her February 26, 1999. But for every
life lost, a new one is gained. Just over a month later,
Corenn was born. He
is her namesake. “Coruscation” means “to
sparkle, to glitter, to gleam.”
Lady
and Rose went on to conquer 4-H and open shows and even
did their share of rated Events in Combined Training. Realizing
they had taken us as far as they could, we started looking for
new prospects to pursue avenues in the rated Hunter/Jumper ring. I
eventually sold Lady to a friend of mine who loved and cared
for her as I did. And Rosie, who was getting on in the
years, stayed with us as Sparky’s companion. She
actually became my first school horse and started off my lesson
program. Everybody
loved her. She was dearly missed by all when she passed
away on October 26, 2000. Just as I mentioned, for every
life lost, a new one is gained. Two weeks later, “
Eagle Rose” walked
in the barn as a sale horse and has never left.  She was
the spitting image of Rosie and had the same name?!
Even though I was still in mourning, how could I not recognize that
this was meant to be? She instantly became part of the family and picked
up where Rose left off. She definitely has “favorite
pony” status among her loyal students — including my mother!
Thus
far, we had taken lessons from whoever was available. I
distinctly remember that I had always felt that I could never know
enough. I was always searching for every little tidbit of information
any instructor could throw at me. It did not matter what their
preferred discipline was. Whether Dressage, Hunters or Arabs,
I could always take some little
valuable piece of knowledge away with me. Also, I would have my
mom videotape my lessons so I could then go home and spend hours scrutinizing
myself. I knew that it would only bring me closer to my
ultimate goals and aspirations, which were to be the best rider I could
possibly be. Even at a
young age, I knew that you could never stop learning. You never,
ever reach a point that you know everything. These are living,
breathing animals just like us. Every time we sit on a horse,
they are always being trained or untrained. They are like sponges. Just
as we, as humans, are either learning something useful or unlearning
bad habits.
Within
my quest for knowledge, I worked with whoever I thought would help
me achieve my goals. During our 4-H
years we tried
lessons with several different instructors but worked mostly with Stacy
Anderson who was at the time managing and training at a big breeding
farm. It was during that period when we all worked together to
create the 4-H club “Boots and Bridles” that is still successful
today. Because we knew the importance of enlisting the aid of a
professional when searching for a competitive show horse, Stacy also
assisted us in the purchase of “The
Fonz”.
Fonzi (a.k.a. Naughty At Night; a.k.a. Smooth Over Everything)
was a big, black thoroughbred that had a heart of gold and we could
see that he had the potential to jump a house. Fonz and I finished
my 4-H career together by being champion in everything at county and
multiple championships at state. From there we participated in many rated
Combined Training events, Dressage shows and made our way up the ranks in the
Hunter/Jumpers.
At the height of his career, Fonz was winning at “A” shows
in the 3’6” Amateur Owner Hunters
as well as the 4’ Jumpers
with numerous year end awards. It was so effortless for him. We
even played around on 4’9” jumps at home! Unfortunately,
I could not afford to keep Fonz when Mink was ready to do the “A”
shows. I was very sad the day we sold him but he did move on to live with
a family and become a young boy’s jumper and his older sister’s
Equitation horse. It's nice to know that Fonzie’s
talent and huge heart added to the experiences of the successful riders
that Maggie and Charlie Jayne are today.
My sister was eventually in need of a new prospect as well. Stacy
had heard of a thoroughbred that was for sale at a new, little Hunter/Jumper
farm called Montrose Acres. His name was
Chris and he was
cute as a button! He was not very broke however. He spent
most of his life on the race track and then the next few years in a pasture
as a stallion. The barn had started him over fences but he did not quite
get it. He jumped with all four feet at the same time! Of
course, we could not resist his adorable face and he became the newest
addition to our family. We liked the facilities at Montrose so we
ended up moving Fonz to live with Chris at that barn.
If you have ever had a horse collection you know it really never ends. I
had decided that I wanted to take on a youngster as a project horse
and one to be ready to show when Fonz neared retirement age. That
was when I met Renee Morgan who just happened to know of a horse for
sale that was exactly what I wanted. Her name was
Mink and she was a three
year-old thoroughbred. She was very green,
barely broke but absolutely perfect!
Our
stay at Montrose was a short one. Just long enough to do a
few “B” rated Hunter/Jumper shows that helped us
realize that we aspired to bigger and better things. We knew that
the training program there was not going to help us pursue our goals. So
shortly after purchasing Mink, we moved them all to a private farm. There
we could explore other trainer options that would eventually lead us
to the “A” circuit.
Through
my experiences, I was very aware of the fact that starting young
horses was definitely a fine art. You have such a clean
slate to work with. It makes much more sense and is less time consuming
in the long run to start them correctly rather than having
to fix them later. I wanted to be sure that Mink had a good base
of training before I started any work over fences. I began working
extensively with Dressage trainers as well as participating in a Charles
DeKunffy clinic.
 It
was in 1992, while we were boarding at Cherrywood Farm, that I realized
that I had a desire to create and run horse shows. I
approached the owner and asked if she would ever be interested in having
one at her farm. She turned me loose to organize it. So
off I went to try to put together the best show I could. It was
so much fun! I wanted to be sure that it became the culmination of
all of my show experiences to date. Ok… I did go a bit
overboard. We had an open show in the indoor arena, a dressage show in
a paddock and a hunter/jumper show in the
outdoor arena. Yes… They each had their own separate
judges and all took place at the same time. But it worked! I
enlisted the aid of my friends and entire family. We actually recruited
sponsors for all of the classes and created advertisement posters for
each of them. We were the announcers,
office secretaries, jump crew and awards committee, and still managed
to ride in all three rings of the show. Oh, to be young again!
Realizing the fact that top-notch care is absolutely essential for these magnificent
animals, it seemed that we were continually on
a mission to find a place to board that would give the best in personalized
care. Needless to say, we moved around a lot over the next few
years. Thankfully, we did eventually find an
entire barn to rent.
It was the old Mane Event facility that became available when their co-op
dispersed. It was sad to see the end of an era in the Mane Event
but it did prove to be perfect timing for us. At that point in
time, we owned six horses and baby Conner
was already on the way. They
were boarded at three separate places so I went around, scooped them
up and plunked them all down together
into what then became Timeless Farm.
It
was fabulous to have the opportunity after all of these years to
finally care for all of my animals myself. To be able to give
them the daily care they deserved and all of the pampering they could
stand. At that point, I knew that anyone else taking care of my
horses would never be good enough. What I did not realize though,
was that was the moment that decided the future of Timeless Farm. I
never once consciously fathomed that just the simple love for my animals
would drive me to create the working show facility it is today.
I was very fortunate to have the backing and support of my family and the undying
patience of my husband. Poor guy never knew what hit him! Having never
been a horse person, it is all still a bit overwhelming for him. Understandably
so!
I think the kicker was, in my husband’s acceptance
of my horse obsession, the fact that on the warm, misty morning of
June 16th, 1998, he was the first human to see baby Conner. After
briefly thinking, “How did a deer get into the stall with Fredriqua?” He
came running into the house screaming, “There’s a foal in
the stall! There’s a
foal in the stall!!” He
was hooked.
As our horse family grew in size, first with the birth of
Conner and the next year Corenn
(see also: Corenn when more mature),
we knew we needed to start looking for a place
to of our own. The rental barn had restrictions on the number
of horses it could house and obviously, our numbers were only increasing! We
looked everywhere. I must have journeyed to see fifty properties! Not
only were we on a very limited budget, I was very specific as to the
property I had in mind. We couldn’t afford an existing
facility, so it needed to be a fixer-upper with useable land. When
I first saw 7431 Village Edge Road, I thought to myself, “This
is it!” When I brought my family to see this perfect property
the response was, “I don’t see it.” I was so
disappointed. I just did not understand why they could
not see my vision. I then
proceeded to run around and explain how everything would look when
it was done. They told me I was nuts. The house was trashed,
the old dairy barn had 4 feet of 10 year old goat manure (it was most
recently a goat milking establishment), corn fields, corn cribs,
broken down buildings and a deceased pick-up truck parked in the
lawn. But the land was perfect, the price was right and they must
have seen the passion (insanity) in my eyes, so they went along with
it. We all spent the next four months single-handedly remodeling
everything from replacing the drywall in the house to
laying the cement in the barn aisle.
 The only thing we did not, could not, do ourselves was the fencing and
the erection of the indoor arena. The
pictures speak for themselves (see below).
We had a mile-high junk
pile that lived in the back yard until the next spring! But how
can you fully appreciate the end result without personally being involved
in the
difficult process? Timeless Farm officially opened December 1st,
1999.
"The Pictures
Speak for Themselves"
Click picture to
enlarge
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With all of the hard work that goes along with keeping these critters
happy, which of course is rewarding in itself, we are
fortunate to have the exciting anticipation of babies to look forward
to. Thanks to Stacy Bianchi, who had the amazing inspiration to
import such a fabulous stallion as Corrado USA, I have been given the
opportunity to breed for future world class prospects. I was very fortunate
to have met Stacy in 1997, the year she imported
Corrado. I had
been looking for a youngster with bloodlines that showed potential for
the upper levels in show jumping. It was evident that I would be hard
pressed to find something of that caliber already on the ground, so I decided to
make my own!
I
knew that my beloved Mink (a.k.a. Somewhere In Time, hence "Timeless" Farm),
who had shown amazing athleticism thus far, would be the ideal cross
with those superb bloodlines. When I first bought Mink as a three
year old, no one knew of the talent she possessed. She was actually
advertised to me as a low-hunter prospect! That is why I feel so
strongly that everything happens for a reason. Had we not moved
on and found a trainer that had experience in the upper levels of show
jumping, I would have never known
that Mink was capable of accomplishing all that she has. In her
very first year on the A-circuit in the 3'6" Adult Amateur jumpers,
we won the entire
Ledges Winter Circuit and then went on to be the Zone 6 Champions that
year. We then quickly moved up to the 4'6" Amateur Owner and
Modified jumpers. Mink had a spectacular jump and a heart of gold. Since
five foot jumps were so effortless for her, we then set our sites on
the Grand Prix ring.
I have to pause a moment to mention that, the year after we were Zone
Champion, we won Reserve Champion -- second only to my sister and
Chris (a.k.a. Nothing But Trouble).
I have to mention the wonder horse that Chris eventually became.
He had a rough start. Didn’t even become competitive until
late in life. But he sure was a whirlwind! Mink
and Chris were always champion and reserve at almost every show for a
couple seasons. He didn’t have the huge jump that Mink did
so when she moved up to the bigger heights of the Amateur Owner and Modified
divisions, he had the mission of keeping the Adult Amateur blues in the
family. And he did. He was so fast that he would consistently
beat the horses that went on to win the national jumper finals! The
year that Chris beat Mink for Zone Champion, my sister was really busy
with school so I finished
the season on him for her. I actually just edged Mink out so I
basically beat myself when we got reserve! Like I said, keep the
blues in the family! When Chris got older and Julie needed a new
show horse, we found Anne. Once again we could not afford
to keep them all as pets so Chris went on to be a little girl’s
first horse in Harrisburg, PA. And
I am sure he continued to make us proud!
Anne (a.k.a. Christal Clear)
was a young, green, little
mare that was actually just starting out in the hunter ring. She
was a bit high strung, so we knew she would have the fire that would
give her the edge that we need in the jumpers. She was originally
just going to be an interim horse until Julie found a real prospect because
she too did not have the jump for the big divisions. Apparently,
Anne had other ideas about how long she was going to stick around. Even
though she has never shown in the bigger divisions, she has never considered
herself anything less than world class. Yes… She has
a very high opinion of herself! And she proved it. Her reputation
speaks for itself. For
two years in a row (2001 and 2002), she qualified for Harrisburg and
Washington in the Adult Amateur jumpers placing third at Washington last
year. Last summer she won the Washington Adult Jumper Classic and
the NAL Adult Jumper
Classic at Equifest I and II. She still consistently wins classes
against a lot bigger and more expensive horses. But nobody
told her she couldn’t! Fortunately, in finally owning
a farm and having the space, we now have the opportunity to keep all
of our equine pets. Not that they don’t
have to earn their keep. Anne earns hers by giving occasional lessons
and being partial leased. She gives people the opportunity to learn
and compete on an extremely talented animal.
Ok, end pause… I met Stacy at the height of Mink’s career. It
was perfect timing because I wanted a baby to be ready to start when
Mink neared retirement age. However, I did not want to take Mink
out of the show ring so I started looking for a mare with the idea of
a surrogate
mom for an embryo transfer. Once again, luck was on my side when
I found Fredriqua. She was an amazingly nice, young, hunter-type
thoroughbred. She was a maiden mare though, so I wanted
to breed her first to make sure she was breeding sound.
Conner (a.k.a. The Highlander) is more than I could have ever hoped for
without even planning on it! He
is 17+ hands and a perfect hunter in every way. It’s funny
that in my quest for the international jumper ring, I created legendary
hunter material in Conner! It just goes
to show that the mare has so much more bearing on what the baby will
be than most people realize or care to admit.
That
was why I knew that I had to have a baby from Mink to be my Olympic
hopeful. However in my research, I quickly
found
that
embryo transfers were risky and very expensive. Because I had very
limited funds, I made the decision to sacrifice a couple years of Mink’s
show career and breed her to Corrado. When Mink went back to work
she gave her all to make up for lost time. She was even invited
to represent the zone at the Capitol Challenge Horse Show in Washington,
D.C.! We
were well on track to conquer the Grand Prix ring when she tragically
injured her eye on a bolt in a stall at a show. Although she tried
hard to please me by still jumping around the huge courses and never
saying
no, her impaired eyesight severely hindered her ability to get around
clean. We started to consistently have a rail or two in every class. It
wasn’t so much her depth perception as it was her nervous tension. She
became more and more worried, nervous, spooky, upset. I could just
tell that, even though she would always try to give me 100%, she just
wasn’t happy anymore.
It
broke my heart to see her so distressed. After all of the fabulous
years she had given me and after all we had
accomplished,
I
had to give her what I knew she wanted: retirement. Even
as I write this, it brings a tear to my eye. Our precious partnership
in the show ring was over. But what is even more precious is that
I know she is finally happy again. Grazing in the pasture, not
a care in the world—except
for her unborn baby. That’s right.
 Mink
is bred again and her legacy will go on in her future children. Looking
back I can safely say she was definitely the happiest when she was caring
for Corenn (a.k.a. Coruscation). She
is such a wonderful mom. I do have to admit that it suits my agenda
as well. The thought of having more babies of such stellar proportions
as Corenn
is deliciously exciting!
I
have to wonder if by now you have checked out the Corrado
website and noticed that he is no longer available
for breeding? Stacy
chose to geld him a couple years ago for personal reasons. Over
the years, we had become great friends and she knew that I had always
wanted
to
breed to him again when Mink retired. She made me an incredible
offer that I could not refuse. I now own the entire stash of frozen
semen, the last remains of Corrado’s breeding career. Stacy
knew that it could not go to a better home. She has always wanted
to see the offspring go on to be the best they could in the show ring.
My sister followed in my footsteps when she bought Corra (a.k.a. Time
Honored) from Stacy -- a Corrado daughter
of fabulous substance and quality. We’ve had her since she
was a weanling so she is just as much part of the family as if she was
born here. What an exciting future we have to look forward to!
Hope you enjoyed my story about the birth of Timeless Farm. I truly
believe that everything happens for a reason. I think
one appreciates their life most by periodically considering the events
and paths that brought us to where we are. Whatever
dreams we have, whatever obsessions consume us, it’s that which
molds us as humans.
I feel very, very fortunate to have all that I do. Not for lack of hard
work, blood, sweat, tears and stress. But these animals make it all
worth it. I am also very fortunate
to have acquired such amazing people in my students. It’s
them that I do this for as well. To try to create a place that
I know I would have appreciated all of those years ago. To
try to guide and educate from my experience because it’s the
mileage that we learn from… and then there’s the
wisdom to pass on…
Our Family
Summer, 2003
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