Animals of the Shire

We allow guests to bring their own horses to stay and ride the trails.

Horses

A true Shire would not be complete without the addition of its horses. Currently we have 8 horses at the Shire. There is Chester our former hunter/jumper from the University of Minnesota. He is a Warm Blood gelding and is about 25 years old. Then there is our easy keeper Stormy who is a 15 year old Appaloosa gelding. Jesse or “Jes” is our only mare. She is a 15 year old Paint. Patch is our old man at 27 years, and we think he is an Arabian/paint mix gelding. Our youngster is a gelding quarter horse Shadow at 7 years of age. We have had him since he was a baby (at one point we could rock him in our swing!). We named him Shadow after the Lord of the Rings horse Shadowfax. He knows a lot of tricks, and some of the other horses do too. We also have a miniature donkey named Donkey (think of Shrek when you say it), and a miniature, 3 year old, gilded horse named Baby. He is the cutest! Our newest addition to the horse family is Fabulous (Fabby for short). He is a big and magnificent 21 year old Oldenburg. He is very friendly! Tayha is the Shire horse goddess, and she has her horse training certificate from the Minnesota Horse Training Academy taught by Larry Sarrett. If you want to know about the horses, see some tricks, or interact with them a bit more, just ask for her!

Currently we have a pen set up at the Tree Lodge and the Cedar House for those that would like to bring their horses to lodge and ride the trails around the Shire. There is just an extra $20 horse fee for each horse to help us keep up the pens. We hope to offer horse riding or horse therapy in the future. We are also planning on building an indoor arena/barn for inclement weather and year-round work with the horses. We also hope to hold workshops or clinics for horse lovers or teachers in the future. The Shire is the perfect spot to spend time with one of the most majestic creatures to ever walk the planet!