Inspiration behind Ferrell Hollow Farm

My Inspiration for Ferrell Hollow Farm In 1982, when I was 13 years old, my father bought me a three-year-old Thoroughbred mare named Turnip. She was green broke and trained to be a Hunter/Jumper. Her show name was “Turn To Me” and she was long legged and thin – just like me. She was an extremely talented yet high strung yet mare and it wasn’t two months after owning her that one of her bucks tossed me off her back and I suffered a hairline fracture in my left arm. So while my arm was in a sling, my mom stepped up to the plate and became Turnip’s “groom”. She did everything for her except ride her. We left that adventure to my trainer. Turnip and I shared many years of competing in local and “A” circuit Hunter shows throughout North Carolina. We also dabbled in Dressage and Combined Training. My father had a Pace Arrow motor home that he would drive to the shows so we’d have a place to stay. I’ll never forget one show in particular … we had gotten all settled in for the evening and Turnip was in her stall resting. My dad decided to take a stroll around the show grounds and stopped by her stall to pet her. Well, apparently, Turnip wanted nothing of the sort and reached out and bit him in the stomach – hard. As you might imagine, he had few choice words to say about her at the time. I suppose he was entitled, after all he was paying for his middle child’s hobby and this was the thanks he got (from the horse, that is, not me). Eventually he forgave Turnip, although he always made sure there was a respectable distance between them! Daddy made me leave Turnip at home while I went away for my first year of college. He actually wanted to sell “that hay burner” and, despite vehement protests from me, began looking for a buyer (half heartedly, I’ll admit). Thankfully, one never materialized. My sophomore year of college I got to take her with me and put her back in training. We even participated in several local shows in Eastern NC. All the while, Daddy still wanted to sell her, but fortunately that never happened! When I decided to move to Tennessee in 1991, the barn owner where I stabled Turnip approached me about leasing her for year to breed for a foal, so I agreed. After the filly was born and weaned, they trailered Turnip to Tennessee to be with me. At this time, Turnip and I decided to focus on Dressage and participated in some local dressage schooling shows. When she was 16, I decided to breed her to a Selle-Francais because I wanted a younger Dressage prospect to work with. After the colt was weaned, I resumed Turnip’s Dressage training; however, shortly thereafter she began to show signs of lameness. Through veterinarian testing, it was determined that she had Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) in her hocks as well as beginnings of bone spurs in the same area. I was given the choice to inject her hocks to keep her sound or retire her from competition. I chose the latter. It was then that I decided to pursue one of my life-long dreams of owning my own farm so I could have my horses with me. I began searching for property and it took less than a year before I stumbled across what is now Ferrell Hollow Farm. That was April of 1996. Cindy, Turnip and her colt had found their home at last! Needless to say, the farm has evolved quite a bit since then. It was – and still is – such a beautiful setting, with gently rolling hills, that I would on occasion take Turnip out for a hack in the pastures. A couple of years later, however – by the time she was 19 – I decided not to ride her anymore and retire her. For the next 10 years, Turnip had many ups and downs with her health. Caring for her presented numerous challenges, yet she was always, always an inspiration – and she taught me more than I could ever imagine. Turnip passed away in November of 2008 at age 29. I will miss her every day for the rest of my life, but because of her (and thanks to her), I have devoted myself and Ferrell Hollow Farm to making sure older and special needs horses live out their remaining days in a comfortable, peaceful setting with the best care possible.