On a recent afternoon at Keene’s Painted Horse Farm in Buxton, a young foal awoke from a nap and took a spin around the paddock. Although the one-day-old foal moved fast for his age, he was much smaller than a normal foal.
The foal, Lightning, weighed only 15 pounds at birth and will grow to no more than 34 inches in height. Despite his size, Lightning, a miniature horse, could get to do something horses of the usual size don’t – serve as eyes for a blind person.
“He’s a cute little fella,” said Larry Eveleth, a neighbor who was visiting the farm that day.
Shirley and Steve Keene own the farm and Lightning, the first miniature horse to be born this year. The Keenes raise miniature horses and market them all over the country. Many people buy them as pets, and some blind people use them as a guide.
Lightning worked up an appetite romping in the sunrays of that warm spring day. “It didn’t take him long to find the groceries,” said Shirley Keene, as Lightning nursed his mother, Domino, who has had 10 foals. “She’s a good momma. She keeps a close eye on him.”
Lightning was the first of five expected new arrivals at the farm this spring. He was born at 4 a.m. on March 29. “We’ve had a ton of people here to see the foal this morning,” she said, the day after Lightning was born. “People slow down. I’m surprised we haven’t had a crash.”
The minis only grow to about 34 inches high. Lightning is so small that he easily runs under his mother’s stomach.
Keene said the miniature horses are not ponies. “It’s a horse that has been bred down,” Keene said. “We specialize in the pinto minis.”
Some miniature horses are trained as service animals for the blind. According to the Guide Horse Foundation Web site, miniature horses have excellent vision, a docile nature and have a longer life span than dogs. Keene said miniature horses often live to be 40 or older, offering more years of service than dogs. Guide horses undergo six months of special training by an expert.
Keene said blind people utilize miniature horses everywhere. “One on 5th Avenue in New York caused a mob scene,” Keene said. “People love the minis. They’re like a dog.”
Keene said people also buy them for pets. She said a lot of older people who are no longer able to ride horseback buy a miniature horse. Upkeep of a miniature horse is about 20 percent of maintaining a full-sized horse.
Putting Velcro sneakers on their hooves, some people walk with their miniature horses inside shopping malls. “They need to carry a broom and a dust pan,” Eveleth joked.
Keene said a couple in Gorham takes their miniature horse to the beach. It even has its own TV and its own little fiberglass horse trailer. And that little miniature mare likes the taste of beer. “The mini thinks she’s part of the family,” Keene said.
The miniature horses are popular with families, because the small horses are safe for children. Keene’s granddaughter stood on a bucket when she was 30 months old to get aboard a miniature horse and rode it.
The Keenes are expecting another granddaughter in May. Eveleth asked, in jest, whether Shirley Keene was making arrangements for the new granddaughter to ride a miniature horse home from the hospital.
Dutch and German Friesian horses are also raised at the farm. They switched to the Friesians from registered paints, an Indian pony, when the market was flooded but have kept one painted horse.
A donkey named Ragweed serves as a barnyard watchdog at night. She protects the “minis.” If a stray dog comes around, the whole neighborhood knows it. “She has quite a siren,” Keene said.
They also breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dogs. “You have to have a lot of eggs in your basket to make a farm work,” Keene said.
Their farm is a landmark, built after the Civil War. John Henry Waterman walked home to Maine after being held as a prisoner-of-war by Confederate forces. Waterman’s father gave him a piece of land and he built the home and barn with a pocketful of back army pay.
Nearly a century and a half later, the farm is still fruitful. Its 50 to 60 acre farm produces hay for Keene horses. Shirley Keene enjoys the farm life.
“I keep my own hours,” she said. “I don’t think of it as work.”
In the hay harvesting season, the Keenes lend a hand to their daughter, Stephanie Keene, who owns the therapeutic riding stable Hearts & Horses in Buxton. The couple’s son, Gary Keene, lives in Standish.
At Keene’s Painted Horse Farm, the barn is outfitted with TV cameras. Shirley Keene keeps tabs on activity during the foaling season with a TV monitor at the foot of her bed. She saw Lightning soon after he was born. “There he was – a little black thing in the white shavings,” she said.
Steve and Shirley Keene bought the farm in 1987. “I had my coffee out here. Tell me Maine isn’t a great place to live,” Shirley Keene said while watching Lightning.
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