- Around Town
- Around Town - New Hope Receives FIDELIS Charitable Foundation Gift
- Around Town - September-October 2011
- Our Pick - theWforum
- Ask The Experts
- Ask The Expert - Mathnasium® of Marlboro
- Ask The Expert - Harbor Lights Financial Group, Inc.
- Ask The Expert - Michael R. D’Agnes
- Bay Wellness
- Bay Wellness - Genital Warts
- Bay Wellness - Welcome to our newest issue
- Bay Wellness - Don't Forget
- Buyers Guide 2011-2012
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - Colts Neck Center for Orthodontics
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - Distinctive Pools Inc.
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - Eagle Oaks Golf & Country Club
- Etc
- Etc - Tired, Busy, Distracted, and Resigned
- Etc - School Daze
- Etc - Walking through Monmouth County
- Featured Artist
- Featured Artist - Franco Minervini
- Featured Artist - José Serrano
- Featured Artist - Sangita Phadke
- Gift Guide
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - Haircolorxperts
- Gift Guide - The Great Atlantic Porch Company
- Gift Guide - Staje The Boutique
- Health Talk
- Health Talk - David Lopez, M.D.
- Health Talk - Anthony Sparano, M.D.
- Health Talk - Marshall P. Allegra, M.D.
- Health, Wellness & Beauty
- Health - Associated Pain Specialists
- Health - Institute for Weight Loss
- Health - Marlboro Dental Arts
- Homes
- The Kaplans’ Home Base
- Contemporary Style - Living Outside The Box
- Luxurious, Lavish, and Livable
- Living in Colts Neck
- La Bella Vita!
- All The Pretty Horses
- Writing a Legacy with Superintendent Dick Fitzpatrick
- Newsletter Articles
- Eats: Twin Lights Bakery Cafe
- The Home Gallery - Colts Neck Manor House
- Parker Family Health Center Named Beneficiary
- Our Picks
- Our Pick - Fred Astaire Red Bank
- Our Pick - Rumson Therapeutic & Sports
- Our Pick - The Grove at Shrewsbury
- People On The Move
- People On The Move - Carmine Visone
- People On The Move: Ken Schwartz
- Canine on the Move: The Therapy Dog
- The Bay
- The Bay - Welcome to the Premiere
- The Bay - $1 Million Emergency Department Expansion Opens
- The Bay - Could I Have Diabetes and Not Even Know it?
People On The Move - Julie Richards
04/30/2011 - By Teja Anderson
LOVER OF LITTLE THINGS
Nestled beside a babbling brook in bucolic Colts Neck sits Julie and Peter Richards’ small, quaint horse farm, complete with stables, run and paddock. And we do mean small; Julie, who hails from Farnham, a little town in Surrey, England, raises and trains miniature horses. Depending on the particular breed registry involved, miniature horses are usually less than 34–38 inches in height, measured from the base of the mane to the ground. The size of a very small pony, many retain horse characteristics and are considered "horses" by their respective registries. They have various colors and coat patterns. Julie’s minis “Sooty,” age 7, and “Chocolate,” 5, are named for their respective blackish and brownish coats.
When Julie’s husband of 29 years, Peter, was offered a three-year stint in the United States with J.P. Morgan Chase, they both jumped at the chance for adventure. With their two young daughters in tow, they headed to New Jersey. Now, 13 years later, they are still happily ensconced here. Daughter Sophie, at age 19, is at Skidmore studying physics, and Bethany, 22, has just graduated from Bard College and plans to be an opera singer.
Although Julie thinks she has lost her British accent, to American ears she most certainly has not. “I’ve gotten used to asking for things like ‘powdered sugar’ instead of ‘icing sugar’ and saying ‘bah-till of wah-ter’ instead of ‘bought-till of watt-ter.’ When I go to England,” she adds, “people think I sound like an American.” Julie has had a few close calls driving on the “wrong” side of the road when navigating some of our notorious Jersey jug handles. “When I first came here I would go around one of those things and find myself facing oncoming traffic with people looking at me like I’m a loony,” she laughs. Although her children were both riders back in the UK and currently stable their horses “Matilda” and “Captivating” at Sandstone Stables in Colts Neck, it wasn’t until the family moved to Colts Neck six years ago that Julie herself became interested in horses. “Apart from the minis, I have a 27 year-old pinto pony called ‘Jigsaw Puzzle.’ Like most people I suppose we thought it would be really nice to have a pony in the back garden. We started looking and we saw this place. It was just lovely, and we were so lucky to find it because it is ideal,” Julie says, looking around in satisfaction. Last year, from the Rutgers’s University young horse program — which uses weanling baby horses to train their veterinary students — Julie purchased a two year old red roan draft horse, “Playing With Fire.” The minis “Sooty” and “Chocolate” were actually bought as sort of a fun experiment to see if they could be trained to pull a carriage.
“I am a firm believer that every horse needs to have a job if their health will allow it,” Julie explains. It wasn’t easy to find the tiny halters and harnesses for the horses until they went to horse country, Lancaster, P.A. “All the small children there will be out on the road with minis (horses) instead of bicycles, the older kids will have ponies instead of motorbikes, and then the teenagers and young people will have the high-stepping horses. We call them the Ferraris,” she jokes.
Although miniature horses are friendly and interact well with people, they still retain natural horse behavior, including a natural fight or flight instinct, and must be treated and trained like any equine. Besides the countless hours of walking alongside and behind the minis in their harnesses, Julie has had to employ some unusual techniques to train them for public use, including a boom box playing loud traffic sounds and plastic bags waved about on a stick. They are now fully trained with their tiny carriage, so look for Julie and her minis at the “Colts Neck Apple and Pumpkin Festival” again this year.
Julie seems to have a penchant for smaller models and was pleased to show us her mint condition Morris Minor 1000 named “Millie,” a 48 year old vintage economy automobile from Britain, complete with red leather seats and the steering wheel on the right (wrong) side!
STATS
FAVORITE RESTAURANT
Christopher’s Café, Colts Neck
FAVORITE MUSIC
Opera and Country
FAVORITE MOVIE
“Love Actually”
PET PEEVE
People who overuse the word “like”
THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
Elvis Presley, Deborah Voigt (opera singer) and Clinton Anderson (horse trainer)
Advertisers
Powered by eDirectory™