Meet the Herd
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Meet the Herd *
Taco
Taco was born in 1998 and came into my life in 2005 when he arrived at the boarding barn where I was keeping Beauty at the time. When I got my own farm and moved Beauty home, Taco came with us. Taco taught me about setting boundaries and taking up space, and not apologizing for either of those. Taco left his earthly body in the summer of 2024. The process of him transitioning showed me how creating sacred ritual can open up portals that allow more sacred beauty to come through into the human realm.
Beauty
I met Beauty in 2004 when she was 4 years old and I was taking riding lessons at a barn in west Columbus, and we’ve been together ever since. She is the “Bella” in Taco Bella Farm, and she and I have been on an amazing journey of transformation as she’s taught me about manners, communication and trust. She was my riding horse for 15 years until she retired, and we know each other so well that I have regularly hopped on her with no equipment to have a relaxed mosey around.
Isabella
Isabella arrived at Taco Bella Farm in 2013 after I had been telling folks around me that I wanted “a big black Percheron mare”. That was one of my first experiences with manifesting my reality, and Isabella was definitely a soul horse to me.
She taught me about slowing down and communicating in whispers. In spring 2016 after her struggling with numerous health issues, I helped Isabella gracefully leave her body; she was 12 years old. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do and I miss her all the time.
The next day when I opened social media there was a quote from Pema Chodron, with an image of a black horse in the woods with translucent wings, like an angel. The quote said: “Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know.”
Heidi & Joy
After Isabella died, I set an intention to open my heart to another Percheron, while also not being attached to any specific outcome. So I wasn’t really looking, but kinda sorta was, when I saw a for sale ad one day for Jaeger’s Heidi.
This caught my attention because Isabella’s registered name was Jaeger’s Isabella, and it turned out Heidi was Isabella’s half-sister, and the two of them had lived together for 8 years on the Jaeger’s breeding farm. And, Heidi was selling along with her foal, Joy.
They arrived at Taco Bella Farm in the summer of 2016; Heidi was 13 and Joy was 6 weeks. Heidi was pretty shut down from spending her whole life as a breeding machine for humans, and quite traumatized by the “loss” of each of her foals.
Heidi is showing me the power of intention and energy work, and how to speak without words. Joy is continually teaching me that there’s nothing wrong with dominance, and the power of play.
Joy was born 2 months after Isabella died, and it seems clear to me that Isabella let her know I still needed to work on slowing down and whispering, so Joy continues that journey with me. “It may be the beginning of a great adventure…”
Oatmeal (& Waffles)
Waffles (see below) & Oatmeal arrived at Taco Bella Farm in the fall of 2017. They are miniature horses but don’t tell Oatmeal that! Prior to their arrival here, they had clearly lived a life of being muscled around by humans and not having choice in their lives.
Waffles (& Oatmeal)
Waffles is teaching me about quietly holding space, and Oatmeal is showing me the true meaning of consent. A wise horse trainer once shared a quote with me – “’No’ has to be OK for ‘yes’ to have meaning”, and that has never been more true than with these two nuggets.
Cabo
Cabo was a rescue in the truest sense of the word. A local humane society had managed to get his previous owner to surrender him after years of neglect, and his hooves were a total mess. Once he arrived at Taco Bella Farm in the fall of 2019, radiographs and bloodwork showed the extent of the damage. With his permission, we made a valiant attempt to rehabilitate him into a decent quality of life, but in the end his wee hooves were too damaged to recover. Cabo taught me about being in the present moment, and enjoying the little things in life, like having Waffles as his best friend and naps and yummy hay to eat.
Meyer
Meyer was born and raised by students in 2018 at The Ohio State University’s farm in Dublin as part of their equine sciences program. My friend, Heather, met him in 2021 while facilitating equine assisted psychotherapy sessions there and they formed an instant bond. In the late fall of 2021 she brought him here to Taco Bella Farm and I’m lucky enough to be his auntie Beth. Meyer is showing me how to be curious and how fun it is to move as one of his favorite things is running laps around the track with his friend Oatmeal.
Meyer loves to share his haynet with his best friend Waffles!
Jasmine
Jasmine wandered into the barn in the fall of 2011, I put out some food for her and she promptly decided to make Taco Bella Farm her home. She was the main driver behind building a heated tack room, which worked out great for me, and she mostly did her job of keeping the barn free of unwanted critters. Although she regularly grossed me out by leaving severed heads or various types of headless corpses laying around. She went from being super skittish to sitting on my lap during my meditation time in the barn. After 10 years of seeing her every day, and her slowly starting to show her age by getting skinny and sleeping more, she disappeared one day. I’m sure she died peacefully in the woods behind the barn where she could hear everything going on. Jasmine taught me about slowing down, getting up once she got on my lap and started purring was definitely not easy, and she quickly trained me to stop doing chores and pet her instead.
The Rat Police - Stewart, Andy and Sting
In the fall of 2022, about a year after Jasmine disappeared, there was a gang of rats living in the barn. They would come out at feeding time to clean up after the horses, and didn’t seem at all scared of me. Around the same time, a friend was trying to find a home for 3 kitten brothers, so we christened them The Rat Police and they came to patrol Taco Bella Farm. Andy, Stewart and Sting were super skittish and suspicious when they arrived as teenaged cats.
They are slowly getting more comfortable and enjoy pets and occasional cuddles. They are teaching me about the importance of a tribe having your back, as they are always together whether sleeping, playing/wrestling or roaming around the farm. And, the rats have vacated the premises so yay for that!