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.

During her recovery she hung out at a stable that had horses and also had a few llamas. These llamas got her thinking back to her school days when her aunt and uncle who were missionaries in South America, would send llama related memorabilia to her family. She decided to buy a young male as a pet. That began a twenty-three year llama-breeding program, Bauernheim Llamas, which produced champion llamas in the United States, and led to exports to several other countries.

The horses are calling...

The yearning for horse breeding continued, and when Maggie's twenty-seven year old American Saddlebred stallion died, it became more intense. With the revival of natural horsemanship and "partnership" training methods, horses seemed to be a possibility and the more gentle breeds were very appealing.

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 Vanners

Then Maggie saw a photo of a Gypsy Vanner 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 Vanners 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 Island Friesians and Gypsy Vanners. Variations of Natural Horsemanship methods are used on our farm and have been extremely successful.