Limington, Maine

Our Clients

Most of our web site is about Maine Equine Associates. We go to so many farms and see so many different people, horses, and situations. This page is our attempt to bring a little of what we see back to others who love the horse. If you have any news, especially with photos, we’ll try to run it here for you. This is not meant to be an advertising page, but a page in which you can share what you’d like to.

If we think something on your farm is of interest to us we would, of course, ask your permission to put it here to share with others. We reserve the right to choose those submissions we think appropriate to this page. The page is dedicated to you, our clients.

Memorials

Joseph

Joseph Came to Maine from China Lake, California thirty-some years ago, at a time when they were trying to cut down the population of donkeys in the area. So – on a truck he and some others went, and ended up in Maine. A lady named Pat went to “just see them,” and ended up bringing Joseph home to Gray, where he lived on her farm for the next thirty years. In that time I met Joseph because Pat couldn’t find anyone to trim his hooves. A mutual friend got me involved. The first time I went to trim Joseph was… interesting. First I had to catch him. Then I had to give him a little Tranquilizer and tie up a hind foot so he couldn’t kick me, and BE FAST. The second time I went to trim him I just had to tie up a hind foot. The third time I just had to put the rope on his foot. After that, I could just go trim him.

Then things changed for Pat and she could no longer keep Joseph, so she called me to ask if I wanted him. I said NO. A few days later, she asked if I could just take him for a month until some other people could build a place for him. Just a month mind you. That was eight years ago.

When I went to pick up Joseph, Pat claimed that if I could ever get him on the trailer, I think I recall her saying, ““I will eat my underwear if he walks on that trailer for you.” Well, Pat – start eating! (No, I didn’t really make her eat them.)

Joseph wasn’t too sure about his new home at Footloose Farm. He just tried to keep away from everyone. Then one day there were some kids here, and they were eating Doritos chips. He went over to them, and one of the girls gave him a chip. That was the turning point for Joseph. We couldn’t get rid of him after that – just as long as you didn’t have a halter in your hand.

One cold winter day, around Christmas time, I was outside working, dressed in my usual winter garb looking like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, hardly able to move. I look – and there goes Joseph, down the road! So off I run after him, trying to get him back, my ski pants swishing loudly. Joseph kept looking back, thinking something terrible is going to get him, all the while getting faster and faster in his escape. Realizing that chasing him was not going to work, I turned around and ran back to go get the truck, and saw that my neighbors were coming down the road. I flagged them down to let them know that Joseph was in the road. I turned to look back to where he was – and there he was, right behind me, trotting up the road. So now my neighbors think I jog my Ass up and down the road.

In the eight years that he lived here, Joseph was a popular and entertaining member of Footloose Farm. He has even come inside the house, where we joke that he “checks his email.” He made lots of friends here over the years, and was loved by many. He was one of a kind, and will be truly missed.

- Terry McClare