Welcome to Mill Creek Farm, where ex-law enforcement and military horses live out their retirement in dulcet leisure. The 325-acre Florida estate, which is run by Peter and Mary Gregory, is home to some 130 retired horses.
Whenever an aging animal arrivers at the farm, its owners make it a promise. “We say you’ll never be worked or ridden again,” Peter Gregory, director of the farm, recently told the Associated Press. “And you’ll be here forever. And they are here forever because when they die here, they’re buried here.”
Here’s how the AP described life on the farm:
…horses graze in green pastures, under moss-draped oaks. Their tranquil existence is only broken each day by Peter, 85, and his wife Mary, 81, riding out on golf carts from their home on the property. From field to field they go, feeding the horses hay, grain and carrot treats.
“It’s difficult to find any place that will take an older retired horse. We wanted Special to actually truly be retired,” said Sgt. Chris Laster of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, who brought a 23-year-old horse to the farm for retirement in 2013. “Peter knows every horse’s name there; he knows their stories.”
[AP]