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Welcome to the Tumbleweed Arabian Horse Farm website, dba Terrell Arabians. This farm, though small, is the fruition of a childhood dream. Selecting the Arabian horse breed was, at first, a matter of seizing an opportunity. After raising children and purchasing a small acreage, an Arabian mare became available for purchase at the time I was looking to get back into riding. EGB Moon Shadow became my first experience with the Arabian breed. I fell in love with her sweet disposition and I learned that Arabians were not the high-strung, hard to manage breed that I had heard; but, instead, were extremely sensitive to human feelings, highly alert to their surroundings, and very lovable.
The Arabian horse is so graceful, pleasant and calming to watch as it grazes in a pasture. When it is listening, it has a statuesque sillouette that beckons artists and photographers to capture its magnificent form. At a full gallop, with head held high and tail in the air, an Arabian horse is a breathtaking sight of pure freedom. Yet, with its "in your tent" attitude, it can be your best friend.
The Arabian horse is a versatile breed. It easily adapts to its environment and can be used in any discipline of horsemanship desired. Highly intelligent and very in tune with its surroundings, one cannot help but fall in love with this breed.
On a vacation to Colorado, arrangements were made to visit a few Arabian Horse Discovery Farms. It was at Holly Arabians that I fell in love with a yearling filly, named KRH Mariah Moniet. After returning home from the vacation, I could not get her off my mind. the purchase was made and she became my second Arabian.
While deciding whether or not to make the purchase of Mariah, I had also been searching online, watching a yearling colt that was for sale in Misssouri, Thee Bikr WPA. Six months after purchasing Mariah, I bought Thee Bikr. He was one month older than Mariah and the two became friends immediately. He became her protector, companion and later, mate. The two produced two offspring, a filly in April 2006 (JTG Thee April Wind) and a colt March 10, 2008, before Mariah's untimely death while giving birth to her second foal. The little colt, still unamed, but lovingly called, "the little prince," took some of the sting out of losing this magnificent broodmare.
Our older mare, EGB Moon Shadow, was also bred to Thee Bikr and produced a filly in August of 2006 (JTG Thee August Moon). At age 15, this was her first foal.
Before acquiring Mariah and Bikr, we acquired a Halflinger mare. She was bred to Thee Bikr also, and has produced a colt in 2005 and a filly in 2007. She is in foal, again, and is due in April 2008. All of the half-Arabian Haflingers are for sale. They are very sweet, intuitive and smart. Limited space makes it necessary to sell them. The colt has been gelded.
The Tumbleweed is a small, new Arabian Horse breeding farm, established to promote the Straight Egyptian Arabian horse. It is located in Granite City, Illinois, (just across the Mississippi from St.Louis, MO). At the present, we are mainly promoting our stallion, Thee Bikr WPA [LS Thee Bahim (Thee Desperado) X The Kalahari (The Mohave)].
The farm's only breeding stallion, Thee Bikr (Arabic for "firstborn") is passing along the fantastic chiseled head of the Arabian and his great conformation. Thanks to the early handling by his breeders, and to his bloodlines, he is a very calm stallion - another trait he is passing on to his get. He protects his mares and becomes a buffer in the herd environment between older and younger mares, making sure all are safe.
Most every farm has one or more dogs. Our farm has a Chocolate Labrador Retriever named Sophie. She is a delight and so full of energy. As a birthday present, two puppies were acquired in June 2007. One is a male, German Shepherd, named Leopold (Leo for short), and the other is a female black Labrador Retriever named Kate.
The Tumbleweed also has chickens (for egg production) and, of course, the usual family of barn cats. Being close to town, many children like to visit in order to experience a small farm environment. Adults come for the relaxing, peaceful, tranquil feeling one enjoys while watching the horses graze.
Realizing that the horse market, as with any breed of marketable animal, can become flooded with too many horses which people may not be able to care for if they cannot sell them, our breedings will be limited. We want people to be able to purchase an affordable horse, with desirable bloodlines, good disposition and athleticism, that will fit into their homelife and discipline of choice. However, we do not believe in breeding for the sake of breeding.
Our own mares will not be bred every year, even if the market demand is there. Our practice is to allow the mare's body time to recuperate, and to also allow a foal to nurse longer than the usual 4-5 months, giving it time to gain its independence, explore more of its surroundings and experience sites, sounds, people and other new things while still being able to receive the comfort and security of its mother, as it would in a wild herd environment. Our desire is to be responsible breeders and caretakers of our horses.
Presently, we are looking for more acreage as we have outgrown our present farm. Preferably a farm already established for horse breeding (crossfencing, barns, pond and training area) with a home for us in Illinois.
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