Walnut Grove

Grant, Mercury’s old friend, pays him a visit:

Two participants in the Tarpan tea party bonding with their Tarpan horses.

OUR TARPAN HORSES
All our Tarpan horses at Walnut Grove were born at Dixie Meadows Farm in 2013 and 2014. They were brought to Hope’s Legacy Equine Rescue in 2017 and to Walnut Grove in 2021. Having lived together since birth in spacious pastures with wooded areas, they do not like to be separated. We generally allow them to be fairly close to one another at all times and bring them only into open-air round pens or run-in sheds. At Walnut Grove, the small barn is for gatherings of people.

Below, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune gallop in tandem

On hot days, they nap together in their run-in shed.

In winter, they look prehistoric.

We don’t think of our Tarpan horses as having a single leader, but as each playing an important role in their herd of geldings.  
Jupiter is our largest, most statuesque Tarpan horse. We call him the King. Calm, sturdy and stable, he expects to be the center of any activity and is the first to come alongside the mounting block to accommodate a child.

We call Mars the General because he is usually on the lookout for his brothers, scanning the horizon, and often the first to nosily inspect visitors to the pasture. He stands ready to defend his mini herd, but he can also be very soft-hearted if approached with respect and on his terms.    
Here he is casting a glance, to the left of Mercury.

Perhaps the most sensitive and gentlest of the five Tarpan horses at Walnut Grove, Mercury was unwilling to accept a halter for years. At Hope’s Legacy, Laura (shown below) persuaded him with the rope halter she fashioned for him. Only now is he accepting to be groomed.

Neptune is smaller, especially inquisitive and quick to learn a challenging new trick, such as playing with a ball and performing Tarpan on a tarp.
He will also carry a child at a slow pace. Here he is, up close and trying a new trick. (photo credit to Sarah Heisey)

On August 24, 2023, a beautiful sunny day with a slight breeze, our fifth member, Saturn, could no longer keep up with his herd. Saturn was the son of Brightfields Solstice and Oak Grove Anysia, born at Dixie Meadows. It is fitting that his father was Solstice, since he and his four brothers were named after the planets (Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune). At Hope’s Legacy, Saturn spent much of his life happily cavorting with his brothers on a summer pasture (5 acres, with woods) and a winter pasture (9 long acres to gallop and practice formations).  He attracted the attention of many volunteers and visitors. He was the smallest yet bravest of the group, stepping up first to be stroked and groomed; deftly turning through figure eights that Laura taught him; letting Emily and children ride on his back and braid his glorious mane; and trusting of Melinda to keep him safe as he explored new things. He lived his last two years at Walnut Grove, at the center of Melinda’s world and visited weekly by Emily and others who loved him. Here he is with Emily.

We remember our Saturn. 2014-2023. Daring, Agile, True. A Marvelous Tarpan Horse