Once upon a time...

A long time ago there was a young girl who loved horses. Actually she was your typical teen-age girl who was horse crazy. Her dream was to breed and train prize winning horses when she grew up, but before she got around to doing any serious horse business, she was involved in a terrible fire and was seriously injured. Injured to the point that her hands would most likely never be able to do the work needed for training horses.

The horses are calling...

A real spark ignited while viewing the Richard Donner movie, LadyHawke. A visit from a fellow llama breeder who owned a Friesian mare and raved about the gentleness and beauty of these animals added to the interest. Soon we brought two outstanding weanling Friesian fillies to our farm. Sissel and Nettie are the foundation for our Friesian breeding program.

Gypsy Horses

Then Maggie saw a photo of a Gypsy Horse and started research on that breed. It led to Dennis Thompson, the founder of the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society, and also to some breeders who helped to further our education. We met some of these horses and their incredible, gentle personalities and quickness to learn as well as their huge hearts captivated us.

Within the next two years four Gypsy Horses graced the farm's pastures. As of early 2005, there are less than 500 registered Gypsy Vanners in the United States.

We are Lifetime members of the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society (GVHS). We entered the first ever Gypsy Vanner Horse Show which was held at the Oregon State Fair in August 2004, and not only brought home a blue ribbon, but also won an Easy-Entry cart for driving.

Our philosophy

Good conformation and strong pedigrees were the mainstay of our llama breeding program, and remain as the backbone of the horse enterprise... along with good minds and temperaments. Horses that are a joy to work and play with (as well as a pleasure to look at) are mandatory at Orcas Feathered Horses. Variations of Natural Horsemanship methods are used on our farm and have been extremely successful.