The Markham family welcomes you to "Hillside Haflingers" in Felton, California. Our little hobby farm is a work in progress. We've reinforced the leaning barn, constructed a small arena and are planning a future theraputic vaulting program. Living in the Santa Cruz mountains allows us to keep our horses at home, ride on the local trails, and welcome each day with a beautiful sunrise.  Mr. M prefers his 1959 Porsche 356 over the equine activities. Our oldest son is attending college and serving coffee at Surf City. Our second son recently graduated from UCSC and is living and working in Las Vegas.  Our older daughter usually has a pencil or charcoal in hand and her favorite music plugged into her ears as she sketches her view of the word. Our youngest daughter vaults with Creekside Vaulting Club.

We share our hillside home with a small herd of Haflingers. The breed originated in Austria from cross-breeding an Arabian with a Tyrolean mountain horse. Their friendly personalities and great strength earned the breed the nickname "the tractors of the Alps."  These stocky little horses are easy to recognize in their various shades of chestnut, from very light blonde to dark with long white or flaxen manes and tails. Most range in size from 13-15 hands. To learn more, visit the Western Haflinger Association.

Our gelding, McSuds, JF, is the cutest vaulting "trot" horse, driving, trail and  Pony Club mount! What he lacks in impulsion, he makes up for in personality. His easy going attitude makes him an excellent candidate for theraputic riding.  Our lead mare, Cayleen, is unusually dark for a Haflinger. Her long silver mane impresses all who meet her. Cay was bred to an exceptional Morgan stallion Robbie Sue's Sundance  to produce our beautiful Morgan-Haflinger filly, Chance to Dance. Chance is being gently started to drive and ride. Confetti is the latest addition to the herd. She is Cayleen's first filly and Chance's half sister but has a lot more "go" than our other horses.  She's fantastic on the trail and has been used in Pony Club by a bold intermediate rider.  'Fetti would like to be someone's NATRC or dressage horse.  She is available for lease or sale *if* we find the perfect partner for her. Our senior pony, Nietzsche is not a Haflinger but rules the farm. He's a golden Quarter Pony with "power steering" kids adore. At approximately 30 years of age, Nietzsche still enjoys a good run but settles down to provide lessons to our youngest visitors. Truffles is a miniature horse and Personal Pony. While in our care, Truffles visited SPIN events and Camp Krem in Boulder Creek. We returned her to Personal Ponies for breeding. For more information about how a relationship with a pony can have a magical positive effect on children with special needs, visit Personal Ponies website.

Vaulting is the ultimate equestrian sport! Vaulters learn about horses and safety, develop physical strength and team skills, and demonstrate creative talent in the performance of compulsory and freestyle gymnastic movements done on the back of a horse in motion. Vaulting is fun and beautiful!  In the future, we hope to develop our own theraputic vaulting program. NAHRA certified instructors who carry their own insurance are invited to use our trained vaulting ponies and arena.

We've rescued and raised a variety of critters including Rosie, the Chesapeake, Liberty and Gypsy, the barncats, a few chickens and  foster squirrels we raised and released. For pictures of the Markham menagerie, visit http://groups.msn.com/BAENAddicts2/haffiecherylscritters.msnw/

For those who prefer Porsche's over ponies, here are Chris' pictures from his car club's "Track Day" at Laguna Seca Raceway last summer.

 Nietzsche & Suds

 Cayleen & Suds first greeting.

Cheryl Markham (aka ponykid) & Cayleen Summer 2003- Cayleen was bred to a beautiful and well mannered Morgan Stallion, Robbie Sue's Sundance.

"Dad's Equal Time Corner": Getting his nails dirty doing maintenance on horsepower that isn't equine.

Chance to Dance -- foaled at Hillside Haflingers on July  5, 2004.