First Hoof Trim

So my friend Randi called her farrier to trim her horses and we made an appointment to get Kirwan's back racing shoes off, they had managed to remove her front shoes before I got her. When the farrier arrived he did Randi's horses first and then said he would take on the new horse. He had a sedative in case she was too crazy and upset. He put his hand on her hip to start down her rear leg and she kicked out at him so fast we barely saw it! He threw his hands in the air and said "THAT'S IT!! I'M DOPING HER!!" Randi said hold on a minute, try it again, she had known this farrier for years and had a good relationship with him. He took a "moment", big breath, and started at her withers pressing on her spine as he moved toward her hip, when he got to the point of her croup, between her hips, she nearly fell. She was so sore, she had been raced 35 times that year and wasn't winning (no surprise) but they kept racing her and making her so painful. The previous owner told me no one at the track would work with her anymore because she had become so difficult.

So the farrier just bent her foot enough to remove the shoes and we put her back out in the pasture. I called my vet to ask what we should do and he said to let her rest and keep an eye on her and then when she settled down we could do some chiropractic work on her. So for the whole winter I just brushed her, gave her treats, let her know humans aren't all bad and waited for spring....

The First Meeting

My family was getting our hair cut at our friend Wendy's shop and she asked if I wanted to go riding with her the next day. And she said "oh there is a horse for sale at my barn." We were living in a small apartment at the time but of course I said I would check her out.
I had always wanted to get a mare so I could have my own baby, I had helped friends with their babies and worked at a Morgan breeding farm, so I wanted my own baby someday.
So on Sunday, I met Wendy at the barn where she kept her horse and she said, "Come see Emily (my daughter's name) she's around back." And when we walked around the barn there was a gorgeous solid black horse with a light breeze tossing her long mane. I thought I was on candid camera! I asked Wendy, "THAT'S the horse?" She said, "Yeah isn't she cute?" Emily walked over to the gate (brownie points) and we put a halter on her and brought her in the barn, then the fireworks started...she didn't want you near her front end, her back end or in the middle. She would kick and/or bite at you as you got to her. She had a very kind eye though, which my husband would later ask how can you see her eye with her teeth flying at you!!!
Well a few days later I was talking to my friend Randi and she finally said, "get her and you can put her at my house." So we paid $500.00 for her and moved her to Randi's house with her three Arabians.
All my friends thought I was crazy for buying a Standardbred, I was told things like she'll never canter, Standardbreds can't jump (I had started doing three phase schooling shows) So I told my friends not to tell Kirwan that and we will be fine! They rolled their eyes and figured I would be selling her in the near future...

Kirwan's Folly

My horse, Kirwan's Folly was raced under the name Emily Mac. She is a 1994 Standardbred, bred in New Hampshire and raced in Saratoga New York. Since my daughter's name is Emily we decided to change Emily Mac's name. We named her after my Great Grandfather Thomas Kirwan who is the only Equine link on either side of my family, he was a mounted policeman in Boston during the depression. He also competed in dressage on the weekends with his police mount and won many silver cups. And Folly comes from my favorite movie, National Velvet. When I looked it up in Webster's the meaning of the word was perfect "any foolish action, any foolish and useless but expensive undertaking, action that ends or can end in disaster" And that's why we named our farm Folly Farm.