Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
For old hags, welcome to horsey heaven
We all dream of one day retiring. Some lucky work horses also get a chance to take it easy when they get older.
Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines is a very special place for 20-yearold and older work horses.
Shoes are removed and these retirees are never again ridden or worked.
Eighty horses, including former police horses, polo ponies, race horses, fox hunters, lesson horses, wagon-pulling horses and horses used in experiments, all live at Ryerss. They live to an average age of 30.
“Horses work hard all their lives for us – they bend to our will – and then when they reach 20 years of age they can come to Ryerss and live out the rest of their days just being a horse,” Samuel W.M. Griffin, Ryerss president, said during an interview last week.
Griffin said the farm is giving back.
“We’re doing a little bit of God’s work,” he said. “We’re looking after the animals that looked after us most of their lives.”
Griffin said horses are similar to humans and other animals. Horses create a pecking order, make friends, form cliques and even have girlfriends and boyfriends.
Griffin said the horses will mourn over a lost horse for a couple of days. The farm seeks to give closure.
“We make sure friends can sniff and can see why they’re not around anymore, especially if they were particularly close,” said the fox hunter.
Griffin talked about “Stanley,” a huge, 2,000-pound horse used for experimentation. The blonde Belgian was a standoffish sort. Surprisingly, he nuzzled his former feeder after not seeing her for several years.
“These horses have memories and every one of these horses who comes here has a wonderful story attached to it.”
Amber Slaymaker, Ryerss animal welfare manager, makes decisions concerning feed, medical attention and when to turn a particular horse out.
“Each horse has his own personality when you get to know them,” Slaymaker said. “You don’t get to see horses on small farms act as they do here in a herd environment.”
Slaymaker said horses are good listeners and don’t talk back.
“You can see how compassionate horses are,” she said. “They’re very tied to each other, with very tight bonds.”
The farm was first established in Fairmont Park when founder Anne Waln-Ryerss left the property to the City of Philadelphia in 1888.
Ryerss Mansion still stands and the original farm property is now ballfields. The farm moved to Exton and now sits in both Warwick and South Coventry townships.
Yes, somebody does work on the farm. Six full-time employees and one part time worker, along with two seasonal workers, run the 386-acre slice of paradise. There are 15 structures and two barns with 79 to-
tal stalls.
The farm grows its own hay and straw and uses a special balanced feed bought commercially, which is easy to digest.
The horses consume 104 tons of food, 11,000 bales of hay and 6,000 big bales of straw per year.
Griffin is a past president of the Radnor Hunt and compared the farm to a retirement village.
“The horses live longer, all the stress is gone, they’re well fed and cared for,” he said.
Griffin often speaks to seniors.
“People who live in retirement communities get this – they understand retirement communities,” he said.
Slaymaker introduced me to her favorite aged equine, “Wolverine,” a former race horse.
Wolverine was injured as a 4-year-old but continued to race and went on to win a total of 25 races.
“He’s a very smart horse,” she said. “I’d overlooked how much work racehorses do and how much they break down.”
The park is open free of charge to the public, 365 days per year, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
You can wander all over or sit in a picnic area. You can even reach over a fence and feed a horse from your hand.
Visitors must sign in and are not allowed inside a stall or behind a fence.
Much of Griffin’s time is spent fundraising. To retire a horse at Ryerss, a one-time $8,500 gift is charged by the 501(c) 3 non-profit. Griffin said that fee will support a horse for about two years, with a gracious community picking up the rest of the tab.
“We remove their shoes and they get to live a carefree life, barefoot and happy,” Griffin said.
Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines is located at 1710 Ridge Road, Pottstown, Pa. For more information go to www.ryerssfarm.org or call 610-469-0533.