We came to the place we named Starlane Farms in 1966, with our two young sons and an assortment of animals, including two riding horses, one ours, one belonging to my sister, Susan Quick.  They were housed in the end of an old dairy barn in two straight stalls.

Over the years, we attended the New York State Fair and got great pleasure from watching the draft classes.  It occurred to us that we could just as well have some Clydesdales, and went off to Canada in 1971 under the auspices of Stewart Crabb, at that time the blacksmith for the Mounties.  We bought two mares from Bill Brass, different colors and different sizes, but broke.  We showed them around the fairs and did quite well, considering.

Our first trip to Scotland was in 1973 or 4, looking for a stallion.  We settled on Smeaton Perfection, a big, thick horse, and he came to the farm.  He was tragically lost in a fire before we had bred any mares, so we went to Aubrey Toll who had Bardrill Footprint, a son of Doura Excelsior, who had been our second choice. We purchased him and a mare and we were in the breeding business.  We eventually bought more mares, bred the ones we had and showed.

On his death, “Prints” was succeeded by his son, Starlane Merlin, owned by Susan Quick.

We regularly attended the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, showing a number of times, bringing home some nice ribbons.  We also showed at Ohio, Great Lakes, Indiana and Milwaukee over the years.  We have enjoyed our horses and, perhaps even more, the many people we have met who helped us, taught us and told us their stories.  Oh, yes, we replaced the old dairy barn with a new pole barn, subsequently enlarged a couple of times, including that necessity, a wash rack!

After forty years, we have decided it is time to retire.  We hope those who purchase our horses enjoy them as much as we have.