Miniature Horses and My Legacy” by V. Gene Baynham, Seaforth, Ontario.
I was born in 1941 and grew up on a farm in Southwestern Ontario. My parents ran a ‘mixed farming’ operation; a little bit of everything but the main focus was a dairy operation. All of us had a riding horse, including my parents, so the love of horses was universal in our family. We also had a couple of work horses but they were being replaced during my childhood with tractors.
We call our farm “Nixons Hill Farms”. My parents were Alice and Dale Nixon and in the olden days when kids wanted to skate or toboggan, they always went to “Nixons Hill”.
We are on the edge of the town of Seaforth* and not a long walk to get to the hill. When I was a kid, the hill used to be crowded with folks enjoying winter sports, etc. And then came television and computers and cell phones and ipads but everyone still refers to this place as “Nixons Hill”. Mum always had a pot of hot cocoa on the stove for frozen kids.
When I was seventeen I left the farm to pursue a banking career. I loved the opportunity to be in an office and live in a city. This was an exciting chapter in my life. I married my high school friend and we raised a family. I continued to work as our family grew. I had a happy career with Bank of Montreal and had a fabulous opportunity in 1985 when I was part of the Award of Excellence winners and was rewarded with a trip to Mauii, Hawaii which was an unbelievable accolade.
In 1997 I took an early retirement and turned the page to start another new chapter of my life. Both of my parents passed away in 1988 and their assets were to be sold and divided among the children. Through this emotional time and while it was never our intention to return to ‘the farm’, we decided to buy the farm from the estate, just to stave off the inevitable tearing down of buildings to erect factories or to grow crops or raise pigs, chickens or cattle. Small farms are a dying breed. The modern farmers ‘GO BIG’ and the bank barns** are levelled and modern milking parlours are built and long lines of chicken barns or pig barns replace them.
When my husband retired in 1991 from Ford in Talbotville due to a restructuring strategy, we decided to sell our home in London and work on rebuilding mum and dad's heritage. I commuted to London and then finally transferred to MBanx to wrap up my time with BMO.
My life moved on to the next chapter....bring on the menagerie. We love our life on the farm. We are swamped with work and jobs that pile up just when we think we have things completed. After 26 years we now accept that the jobs will not be completed.
On our 190 acres there are about 30 acres that cannot support crops, nor is it easily accessible with machinery. To help manage this area, miniature horses look after the grass and we help from time to time to clean up what they will not eat with our lawn tractors.
We have 29 minis and 5 of them are boarders. We own 24 miniature horses. Maybe too many but we have raised them for 26 years and now we have several older horses that are here forever because it wouldn't be fair for them to adjust to a different environment.
To help me take care of the horses I have two young ladies who come to groom and train them every Saturday morning. Sometimes the young people move on to boyfriends and riding horses but there is always some young person who wants the chance to love the little horses and these individuals replace the older ladies who move on to other interests.
I also have 11 stallions, one is 28 years old, one is 24, one is 23. As these graceful horses age they stay with me so they don't have to try to adjust to another environment. We have a few foals each year and they are sold providing we think they are being placed in a happy home.
We have many visitors who love to see newborn foals and have found that you are never lonely when you have miniature horses. We will make a few "road trips" to let the little horses share their love. We have visited retirement homes and Senior Day Care Centres. More and more, animals are showing that they have a therapeutic effect in many areas. Recently we let our horses work their magic at a seniors camp gathering near London, at Wood Eden Campgrounds. Campers were reminded of their youth and their memories flowed back with smiles and laughter replacing the dozing off and wondering if anyone would visit.
by V. Gene Baynham, Seaforth, Ontario
P.S. If you would like to find out more about Gene’s farm here is the website
Google Nixons Hill Farms
Can also try Nixons Hill Farms Smallest Miniature Horses
(* A little background on Seaforth, Ontario from Wikipedia. Seaforth, Ontario emerged in 1859 when a post office was established and was incorporated as a village in 1868 and as a Town in 1874. In many ways, Seaforth is the
quintessential small Ontario town.)
(** A bank barn is the old style barn that is often built into a hill for the wagons to take the crop up the bank into the hay mow which is the top level of the barn.)
