Emerald Dreams Farm is the product of a long journey and a great deal of hard work for Dan and Ann.
Ann received her first pony at age 9, and had already been striving for a horse or pony long before that. There are not too many horsepeople in Ann's family, so it somewhat mystified her family when she turned out to be so adamantly "horsy". It would not be long before Ann graduated to a horse of her own, the immortal Stormy, who would help a young girl through life, growing up, and into maturity. When Ann talks about Stormy, one is sure that he was her "once in a life-time horse". Even after Stormy passed out of her life, Ann would not be without horses.
From the time she received her first little pony, Ann has not been without at least one horse at any time in her life.
Ann did not take her first riding lesson until she reached middle years.
Her lessons were bought on the back of a feisty young pony, without aid of saddle, or bridle at first. Ann learned to ride by "getting back up there". She and her childhood best friend rode horses purchased at auction just so that the man who bought them could "see if he (the horse) rides." It was a pretty safe bet that either Ann, or her best friend, more likely both young girls, could ride any horse that had ever had the slightest training, and probably a few that hadn't had any!
Ann grew up in a time and place when people still organized long trail rides routinely. The area has been replaced with housing developments and such, much like most of the old trail routes. Ann used to ride through the woods with her father, a somewhat begrudging horseman, to collect prizes such as old, dirty bottles that her father loved.
Ann has been on each end of the horse-world spectrum. She's known "horse traders" and she's been to the "in" seminars on Natural Horsemanship. She received her first formal riding lesson from a woman who has proven to still be a close family friend, Sarah. Ann chose to educate herself about riding, it wasn't enough for her to be able to get up on just about any horse and ride off, she wanted to know the magic, wanted to be part of it.
As a young girl she watched one of the first performances in the US of the Lipizzaners, traveling, that year, with a group of Morgan horses and a few Arabians as well. Anyone who has been, or knows, a horse-crazy little girl knows the impact of the dancing white stallions.
Ann wanted, she realized, to be able to make that magic with her horses, not just dream about it.
Rather than have a "I know it all" attitude about horses, Ann is heard frequently to say, "Of course I don't know everything about horses, you can ALWAYS learn something. It's when you think you know everything that you know nothing at all." She makes reference to her first riding lesson, "Boy, what I learned in my first ever riding lesson, at (middle) age, was that I knew NOTHING about riding." It takes a brave, secure horsewoman to say such things with genuine amazement and no embarrassment. After all, there's nothing to be embarrassed about not knowing, it's not LEARNING that embarrasses.
Ann has attended every performance of the Lipizzaners, whichever troupe, that came close enough to be feasible. She has attended, competed in, and been behind the scenes of rodeos, dressage shows, and even been in the crowd at the show-jumping team finals held in Atlanta, GA, for the Olympic Games.
She began her natural horsemanship training with the teachings of John Lyons, but did not make the mistake of limiting herself to ONLY his teachings. Over the years Ann has listened to every trainer that she has the opportunity to see or watch (many times on RFDTV) and taken something from almost every one of them. Currently, Clinton Anderson's methods seem to meet most of the needs here on Emerald Dreams Farm, and so those are the methods most used.
However, there is something to be said for the "rough and tumble" way that Ann grew up and initially learned about, and began caring for, horses. She's been through a little bit of everything, from hard times to good, sorrow to joy.
She never stops learning, even when frustrated with the inability to keep every one of her horses, or facing a winter with inadequate shelter.
Ann has "an eye for breeding" and everyone here at Emerald Dreams agrees that each and every foal produced this year lives up to exactly what it was bred for. Each of our foals is awesome, in a different, unique way from the other foals in the "Baby Herd." Ann knows, instinctively, how to get inside a horse's head, more often than not, and can train horses with the best of them. She has, many times over the years, taken in horses no one could catch, touch, or etc. and not only caught them, touched them, taught them that people can be good things, she's taught them to carry riders, look to their rider for cues, and then re-sold them, with what we like to call, "A Leg-Up on life". Currently, we have one such mare for sale on this site. We cannot, of course, take on any more at this moment in time because we are having the fall herd reduction for the welfare of ALL our horses.
Ann was divorced many years, and bred Ragdoll cats for several years, staying out of the horse breeding business because it is, inherently, so labor intensive and emotional. Instead she bred darling Ragdoll cats who lived in her house and did not have to have buckets upon buckets of hot tap water brought out to the far-away barn when all the water froze and horses had to be in stalls. Ann remained a responsible breeder, all Ragdolls were sold already spayed or neutered, with their vaccinations. She had a few horses, especially horses that have been with the family for years, but she did not have the time to breed as a business anymore.
And then Ann met Dan
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