Our Mares

"Possum"

1995 14.3h sorrel / white Appaloosa

"Our first mare"

We got Possum as a 2 yr old and Sheila rode her until "moon blindness" got her eyes. Possum never heard that "a horse can't go where a mule can". She thought she was a mule. That is all she ever rode with. We never taught her to jump, but I believe she would have. The voice of experience: we spent a ton on her "bad eye" trying to slow everything down and I firmly believe now we should have left it alone. That eye is completely dead. It has since spread to her other eye and she is now completely blind, but manages it very well!!! At this point, we have stopped raising foals as it is very stressful for her the first few weeks.

She is the mother of 2005 "Sunny's Patchy Britches"

2006 "Sunny's Fancy Pants"

2007 "Sunny's George Jones"

If you read about Possum's moon blindness and her loss of eyesight you wonder how she functions day to day around here. Her good eye goes from good to blind and back again several times a year. Our mares are turned out in a 40 acre pasture with ditches running through it and it's a long ways from square, so some pretty good navigation is required.

These 2 mares have been best of friends since 1997. It is interesting as they are both very dominant mares, but they have never tried to "dominate" each other, just equals.

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When Possum lost her sight initially in the fall of 2002 she completely lost it for a period. As you can imagine a dominant mare that can't see is pretty vulnerable in a band and she went from the top to the bottom in a couple of days. I was amazed and touched to see what happened then. We feed in buckets hanging on the fence and Roan would take the end bucket, call Possum to it, then move to the next one and keep everyone else away so Possum could eat. Needless to say, these are our "foundation stock" and will be here 'til they die.

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Roan was an amazing cutting mare and reining mare, as well, but we put her to work raising mules. A couple of years ago I decided to ride her one nice February morning. It was cold and we went to some friends' with a nice barn. Sheila was very interested to see what happened and wouldn't leave 'til I rode her ( I wasn't really sure what would happen and didn't want an audience as it had been just over 4 years since I last rode her) so I saddle up, stepped up on her, asked her to back and she zipped back, I put a rein into her and she rolled over her hocks real nice and stood still. I put a leg into her and started loping circles, kept bringing it down 'til I could set a hind foot and she spun and spun around. We got a couple of calves in and she hadn't lost a move............... After 4 years of not being ridden!!!!

"Roan"

1995 15.1h bay AQHA

Three Bars and Two Eyed Jack bred

"Our second mare"

We got this nice mare a year after Possum and her "goal" has always been to be a mule momma. We had her cutting trained in 1998 and is an unbelievable athlete, again, all done to be a mule momma. We are raising mules with her abilities. I firmly believe a mule with the right brain can out do a horse in cutting due to the foot control a mule has over a horse. I believe Roan and Sunny are giving them the "brain" to do it. I am keeping "Gill Favor" for myself.. In 2006 she adopted a newborn when her foal was 3 months old (it's mother wouldn't claim it) and raised it through weaning.

She is the mother of

2000 " T Cross Farm's Rusty Jewels" 2000 Iowa Donkey and Mule Society Futurity Winner and Winner of many halter classes since

2001 "T Cross Farm's Wild Cherry" 2007 Iowa Donkey and Mule Society State Show High Point Mule

2002 "T Cross Farm's Boo"

2004 "T Cross Farm's Easter Lilly"

2005 "Sunny's Gill Favor"

2006 "Sunny's Wild Wrangler" and "Louie"

2007 "Sunny's Coppertone Girl" 2007 Iowa Donkey and Mule Society Futurity Winner

2008 "Sunny's Rowdy Yates"