ALACHUA, Fla.—Tucked away in the woods of North Florida, 132 retired horses—some of them ancient in equine terms—graze and romp on acres of lush, hilly pastures.
“We feel that they’ve done their public service and deserve a great retirement,” farm director and board President Paul Gregory says.
Founded 39 years ago by his parents—Mary and Peter Gregory—the nonprofit grew from a dream they'd nurtured since their earliest years together.
After meeting at the University of London, the young couple had strolled on dates through a farm outside the city, visiting workhorses enjoying a brief annual respite.
“What if we could do something similar one day, but offer the horses forever homes, instead?” they had wondered aloud to each other over the years.
“We decided that if we ever made money, we would use it to rescue animals,” Mary Gregory recalled, in her gentle English accent. “We were on the same wavelength about it.”
Decades passed. She and her husband worked hard in hotel ownership, raised two sons and a daughter, and put aside a tidy sum.
Finally, it was time to ask themselves:
Now that we’re financially able, should we embrace iconic retirement goals of luxurious vacations and easy living? Should we reject that romantic, old plan that would require never-ending, physically demanding work and enormous investment to set up and operate a retirement farm for horses?
They were questions not to be taken lightly. But resoundingly, the “neighs” had it.
A Different Kind of Retirement
After living mostly in hotels, where they couldn’t have pets, the couple purchased an old watermelon farm on gently rolling hills between the two coastlines in northern Florida.They immediately began taking in horses, even as much work still was needed to shape the property into what it is today.
They planted trees, erected shade shelters for the horses, and built miles of fencing, to transform once bare and uninhabited fields into shaded, homey pastures.
The Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm officially opened in 1984. Since then, hundreds of residents have entered the farm’s gates to become family.
Before he died in 2014, Peter Gregory helped set aside the land in a trust that guarantees the mission forever and ensures that the property never will be sold or developed. It forever must be used for the purpose of helping animals.
The cost to care for the current herd is about $400,000 per year.
“Once they set foot onto the property, we promise them that they'll never leave,” Paul Gregory said on a Saturday, the only day visitors are allowed to amble in, poking carrots at the inquisitive noses of residents.
The horses also are promised that they'll never be ridden again, his mother, Mary Gregory, added.
‘Always Be Kind to Animals!’
It’s not that the couple was opposed to using horses for suitable purposes.Mary Gregory learned to ride and love animals when she was sent away to a private boarding school during World War II. There, she was taught to ride by an instructor who also worked with Queen Elizabeth II’s horses.
The headmistress of the school, who also taught Latin, would bring her dogs to class, Mary Gregory recalled. Students were much more interested in playing with the dogs than studying Latin, she remembered.
The teacher took that opportunity to insist to students, “You must always be kind to animals!” The mantra stuck.
Eighty years later, a tear slips down her cheek as she says that she finds it inconceivable that anyone would be cruel to an animal.
The farm gladly accepts former military and police horses of any age after they can no longer work. It also takes in horses from other bona fide rescue organizations, once the horses are older than 20 and deemed unsuitable for placement in adoptive homes.
Before being rescued, many of the horses endured cruelty. Farm volunteer Cynthia Lucia, 80, rattles off encyclopedic knowledge of every individual.
“This one was left tied to a tree in the Everglades, without any water, to be food for alligators,” Lucia said with disdain, gesturing at one of the grazing horses. At the time of rescue, some were found with bites that proved there'd been desperate tangles with the killer reptiles.
“And this one, Savannah, is blind, and has this one, Laura, as her seeing-eye horse,” Lucia says fondly, as the unseeing horse’s ears flick toward her.
“They stay together, and Laura shows Savannah where to go. You can feed Savannah carrots, if you tap them on the fence to show her they’re there.”
Most of the horses don’t move as fast as they used to. Many have arthritis and other health conditions that require special care and treatments, said Nora Denslow, a volunteer and board member.
The farm provides the costly medicines necessary to keep the horses out of pain and to manage any other common age-related conditions they have, such as Cushing’s disease.
Sparing No Expense
Anything that the horses need is done without sparing any expense, the younger Gregory said. He left a career in South Florida real estate to take over as director and president nine years ago, about the time that his father died.“But if a golf cart goes down, and we can fix it with a rubber band and paperclip, and get two more weeks out of it, then that’s what we will do,” Paul Gregory chuckled.
“It’s all about the horses,” echoed his mother, now 90, who bounces along the farm’s paths on her golf cart, with a rescued dog on the seat beside her. “The horses own this place, because everything that’s done is for them.”
The expensive care that retired police and military horses require makes it especially hard for law enforcement agencies and military units to find them homes.
And even though officers love their equine partners, they usually can’t adopt them as pets, as K-9 officers often do with their retiring four-pawed partners.
That puts the horses at risk of being euthanized if they can’t be placed, volunteers told The Epoch Times.
“One would hope that these horses would have a place to go,” Denslow said. “But often when horses outlive their usefulness, they are discarded. So we’re glad to be able to give these animals a forever home where they can live out their days.”
Not just any equine can serve as part of a mounted patrol. Those horses must be unusually brave, calm, and willing. Because horses are prey animals and naturally prone to exhibit a flight response when scared or startled, this makes brave individuals an anomaly in the species.
An Honorable Service
Police officers from mounted units often express profound gratitude to find a guaranteed forever home for their retiring equine partners, Denslow said. As a result, the farm receives annual donations from some law enforcement agencies that have placed horses with them.The retired mounted patrol horses living at Mill Creek Farm previously worked assignments ranging from the Super Bowl to riots. Many were ridden in parades and performed in law enforcement memorials and funerals.
Before retiring at Mill Creek Farm, some of the military horses served as “U.S. Army ambassadors,” often performing in the mounted color guard and carrying out duties at military burials. Some of the animals completed thousands of military missions in their careers and earned military ranks as high as sergeant.
Retirees living at the farm have received awards and certificates of appreciation from their former law enforcement agencies, and even from a former president. Former President Barack Obama signed a certificate honoring Sgt. 1st Class Possum upon his retirement. Possum still resides at the farm.
The oldest resident of the farm is 41-year-old Shamrock, a miniature donkey.
The previous record holder was R.C., an Appaloosa gelding, retired from Miami-Dade Mounted Patrol after serving for seven years. He lived to be 45.
Entering the ‘Field of Dreams’
When a retiree passes, volunteers weep and help bury him or her in the farm’s “Field of Dreams.” Many of the horses have been honored in perpetuity with memorial plaques on fences of the pastures where they once grazed.Visitors are welcomed to the farm every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost of admission is two carrots per person. Experienced guests bring more, because there are so many soft muzzles reaching for a treat or a gentle pat.
Local and also out-of-town visitors flock to the farm during that weekly four-hour window to visit the horses. Some make the farm an annual stop during travels, bringing family and grandchildren back every year, Denslow said.
After winding down an oak-shaded driveway lined with a split-rail fence, guests pass through a welcome station, where volunteers greet them. A stand displays equestrian-inspired arts and crafts donated by local artisans, along with farm T-shirts and caps. Profits from merchandise sales go to the continued care of the animals.
Visitors stroll down miles of shady, paved trails and bridges over Mill Creek, encountering friendly horses in each pasture. On each fence line, laminated biographies highlight the past accomplishments of each retiree.
Lucia has been volunteering at the farm for 15 years. Because of some physical challenges, she can’t help with grooming anymore. But she loves to cart guests around, pointing out characteristics that make each resident special.
“There are Dakota and Amadeus,” she grins. “They both worked together for many years in the Palm Beach County Mounted Patrol.”
She praises the beauty of a shiny palomino, El Capitan, whom she introduces as her friend “Cappy.”
“He has these beautiful golden eyes that match his coat,” she points out to nearby visitors.
She’s seen many horses come and go over the years, but there are still about 14 she met during her first visits. She now pays a $50-per-month sponsorship for two, who feel like family now.
Curious guests often question, “Which one is your favorite?”
Lucia always responds the same way, communicating her unique love for each with precision.
With a smile, she points to the parents’ nearby children, and asks, “Which one is your favorite?”
