Welcome To Wisconsin......

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

I'm am so excited to finally announce the arrival of Little Wee Bandito's Magical Merlin in Wisconsin! Thank you so much to Karen at Little Wee Horses for letting us purchase this beautiful boy! We're so happy to have Merlin here with us!

Merlin was purchased as an addition to our group of driving minis, and will be sent for cart training in spring. One of the goals that I set for myself when my husband and I got into miniatures, was to someday have a team of leopard appy driving horses. Hopefully, when both Merlin and my coming yearling leopard are both ready and driving well enough, they will be trained to drive as a team. That's years down the road, but with the purchase of Merlin, I am now at least one step closer to that goal, and I couldn't be happier!

For those of you that have mares bred to Merlin, be sure to share photos with us when your foals finally arrive!

Summer sleek.

Winter woolies.

 

[hairicane]

Congrats!!! Looks like u will be seeing lots of spots at your place :aktion033:

 

[miniapp]

He is SUCH a nice horse.....

:

Congratulations!!

Suzy Hooper

Show Horses by Suzy

Fresno, CA

 

[MBhorses]

nice looking fellow.

:

Look at all those spots.

enjoy him. I would love to see his foals.

melissa

 

[eagles ring farm]

Hi Geri

Glad you finally got Merlin home

we have a mare bred to Merlin we purchased from Karen we just got her a couple weeks ago

RF Bars Warrior Princess (Xena) she is a palomino snowcap appaloosa

She has started to bag up so should be earlier than I hoped with the cold

we'll be sure to let you know when she foals.

Congratulations on your purchase of Merlin he is beautiful and should make an awesome driving horse

Lori

 

[qtrrae]

Geri,

What a gorgeous fellow!! Merlin looks like he will be a good match for your little guy!

You do LOVE

: those spots and now you have even more to enjoy!!

Congratulations on "Little Wee Bandito's Magical Merlin !" I think you made a great choice!!

Lori, I love your Xena, also - with a dam and sire like that - that will be one good looking foal!!!

:

 

[Devon]

My what pretty spots you have. Aww he is Gorgeous! Congrats!!

 

[runaway ranch]

He is gorgeous & Lori I love your mare. Won't it be fun to have the foals coming? I can't wait!

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

Oooooooooooooo, Lori, I can't wait to see that baby!!! What a nice mare! I'm seeing "spots" in your future!

 

[maplegum]

GORGEOUS!

Congratulations on the 'spotted one'

:

 

[Little Wee Horse Farm]

It's so good to see him in his new habitat...........he looks just as good there as he did here! Merlin has one of the best personalities & is full of vim & vigor, the better to drive! Happy trails, Geri. I hope he's everything you wished for. I'll miss him so, but I know he's in good and gentle hands. I wish you many many years of happiness with him.

: -- karen (the little mare in my avatar is his half-sister)

 

[CJMM6]

Oh Geri. you have a gem there. :aktion033: When I first met Karen she had a lot of pintos, my 1st love,

: anyway

she had this leopard appy called Bandito & she loved him so. Appys were not my fav. horsie but I have learned to appreciate the loud colored appys since I met Karen & Bandito. By the way, Merlin is a mirror image of his sire, Bandito. Yes, appys' are my 2nd love now

: We have a pintallousa mare.

Good Luck with Merlin, he is beautiful. cjmm

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments! He is settling in wonderful, and we have started the bonding process, which is going very well. This guy is a sweetie! He stands there waiting to be haltered, and we do the hugs and kisses daily since he got here on Sunday. Today we went for short walk (brrrr, Wisconsin is cold right now!). He's very much a gentlman to be around, and I can not wait to see him shed out in spring. I haven't seen either of my leopard boys shed out yet!

I actually have a funny Merlin story already! In all my years of owning horses, I could probably count on one hand, the number of times one of mine has gotten out of the fence. Well, last night, my little "Mer" decided he was going to let us know why he was named "Magical Merlin"!

Hubby went out to do chores on his own.........I didn't feel like going out into the cold. I was working on the computer, and all of a sudden the door flew open, and hubby (picture him out of breath) screaming at me to come and help him, Merlin was out! So I very frantically tried to tie my boots, and if you've ever tried to tie boot laces in a hurry..........well, lets just say it doesn't work! So I go running outside, it's dark out, so I can't see Merlin anywhere. Then he comes tearing around the corner, and goes to stand right by the door of his run in. Dave's in the fence trying to coax him with hay (uh, hello, ever hear of bribing a horse with GRAIN!), and he's sniffing at the fence with one of his neighbors. I thought I could walk up to him, and guide him in the door. Nope, nothing doing with that idea! He wanted to check out more of his new surroundings, so he went running for a romp on the old Soggy Bottom front lawn, didn't even stop to say hello to the boys he's been talking to since Sunday..........which I'm almost positive they were highly insulted by Merlin's snobbish behavior LOL!

I thought to myself, well, that didn't work. So as Dave is freaking out, I walked into the barn, put some grain in a coffee can, walked outside the barn, shook it loud enough for him to hear, and I didn't even have to walk around to find him for him to hear it. Merlin comes tearing around the barn, he's running so fast he completely missed me and the coffee can, put on the breaks, and came back to me for a nibble. I lovingly had a nice conversation with him while him and I walked right into his run in, sprinkled some grain in his feeder for him, gave him a pat, and closed the door. Hubby was standing there amazed, and I looked at him and said, "now that's how you catch a horse!" Tee Hee..........Mer sure made me look good!

Dave said he squeezed right past him as he opened the door, and reached up to turn the light on. Mer just wanted a little excitement, that's all, no harm done........but it sure was funny! That boy can run!

 

[eagles ring farm]

Geri

I guess he just wanted you to take more notice of the new guy in town

Both your boys are just georgeous

: I'll bet its going to be hard waiting for spring

to see how they shed out.

Lori

 

[luvmycritters]

[SIZE=10pt]Congratulations Geri! Merlin is beautiful, as is your other appy boy - what a great matching pair! :aktion033: I have always loved the lepard appy's - I am so happy for you![/SIZE]

Lori

 

[Jill]

Congratulations on him, Geri!!!! He is a beautiful and LOUD boy!!!

As you know, I own one of his daughters -- my loud bay leopard mare, Little Wee Klassic Showgirl.

Hope he gives you many miles in the cart and lots of spotted foals

:

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

Beautiful!

:

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

He is beautiful!!

Geri--how tall is he?

Hi Karla,

Thanks!

We measured Mer at 37" tall, which is one of the reasons we bought him. I like em' big

: !!!!!!! My coming yearling leopard appy is 34.5" tall at 9 months old, and I'm hoping him and Mer will at least come close to seeing eye to eye sometime down the road.