My friend Elizabeth McCall wrote this fascinating article about Elvis Presley and his love of horses. It’s going to be out in the next issue of “Cowboys & Indians” magazine but you can have a sneak peek – right here, right now!!
I always liked Elvis in “Blue Hawaii” something about living on an island ranch, I guess :)
Enjoy the memories and maybe we’ll all meet up sometime at the barn in Graceland!
Have a fabulous weekend and take a minute to remember our firefighters and soldiers on this hot Fourth of July holiday.
tim farley
All The King’s Horses
Few outside his innermost circle knew Elvis Presley had a heart for horses.
BY ELIZABETH KAYE MCCALL
Elvis on Rising Sun, his golden palomino, and Bear, his black Tennessee Walking Horse.Photography: Courtesy Elvis Presley Enterprises inc.
The world knew Elvis for his music, his movies, and even for his motorcycles. People close to him knew him for his love of horses. A rich part of his personal life that largely escaped public view, his equine devotion opened to the world in 2009 when the stables at Graceland opened to the public in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Actually, Elvis was a little bit afraid of horses at first because of something that happened on a movie set,” says Alene Alexander, Graceland’s stable supervisor. She’s referring to the time a horse ran away with the actor during production of Flaming Star, in which Elvis plays Pacer Burton, the son of a Kiowa mother and Texas rancher father who ends up caught between both worlds. But after buying wife Priscilla a black quarter horse named Domino, Elvis had a change of heart about riding.
“After he saw Priscilla ride, he became interested in owning a horse,” says Alexander, a former schoolteacher who has become the King’s de facto equine historian after 30 years at Graceland. Not just any horse — he had to have a golden palomino. “He would take the guys [in his entourage] and Priscilla, and they would go out and literally knock on people’s doors who had horses, looking for a golden palomino.”
It was often 3 in the morning when he took those horse-hunting trips. “Elvis couldn’t travel during the day. If he did, the world would be following him. …
Did you see this nice article by Donna White in the Wall Street Journal?
How would you feel about your parents donating everything to take care of the horses? If you can visit the farm it looks like a nice place to retire – for people or horses! If you can’t give it all away maybe you’d just like to help out the Horse Tales Literacy Program??
By Donna Gehrke-White — Sun Sentinel
Horses & Legacy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — You’ve made a few bucks, acquired a few things — but you can’t take it with you.
And as time goes on, more people have been choosing to invest in their passions upon their death instead of just an inheritance to others. For many, building a fortune gives them the freedom to give it away to support a cause.
Paul Gregory, a Fort Lauderdale real estate agent, already knows he won’t be getting an inheritance. His parents, Mary and Peter Gregory, who once owned a resort in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fla., used their wealth to buy a farm just north of Gainesville, Fla., to care for more than 100 abused and neglected horses. When they die, their farm will remain a non-profit organization helping horses. Their son couldn’t be happier.
“What they do is amazing,” he said. Gregory and his two siblings “are all supportive of it. It’s something they have wanted to do all their lives. They are some of the hardest-working people I know. I wish I had more money I could give to them.”
Nationwide, leaving a legacy in a bequest was up nearly 19 percent in a year to almost $23 billion in 2010, according to the non-profit Charity Navigator.
Baby boomers have especially been interested in establishing a legacy. Three-fourths recently told pollsters that passing down family values and life lessons was more important than the monetary amount they’re leaving in an inheritance, according to a recent survey by Allianz Insurance.
“We grew up in a do-good generation — we were going to change the world,” said Christine “Christy” Lambertus, a Fort Lauderdale board-certified, estate-planning attorney who is planning to leave a legacy.
Childless people are especially giving, said Lisa Mendheim, a spokeswoman for Broward County Animal Care, which recently was left $5,000 in a will by an animal lover. The money was used to buy medicine and food for two animal shelters. Mendheim’s late aunt also left money to help animals.
“I thought it was a pretty cool thing to do,” Mendheim said. “She did not have any children. She had pets all her life. She always rescued pets.”
Many give to help animals, such as a recently deceased client of Boca Raton, Fla., financial planner Mari Adam. The woman bequeathed more than $1 million to help abandoned or abused cats and dogs in South Florida, Adam said.
Others have concentrated on helping their college alma maters, impoverished children, the arts or not-for-profit foundations.
More would like to give but are afraid they are going to run out of money with the wobbly stock market and low interest rates, Adam added.
It’s especially important for those with no close living relatives to make a will, specifying where they want their money to go, attorney Lambertus said.
Many who do give prefer to do so without fanfare.
“As a group of people, they are modest — they don’t want to be recognized from the rooftops,” said Allison Shipley, a partner in South Florida at PricewaterhouseCoopers who has had clients anonymously help migrant children become educated.
A few become known only after a charity releases information about a generous bequest.
Take Helen Stoykov of Pompano Beach, Fla.
She lived a quiet, frugal life, going to work at an early age after her father died. She worked as a machinist helping build the engines in B-26 bombers during World War II before going on to work for the federal government.
When Stoykov died at age 93, she left more than $1 million to set up an endowment fund at the Fort Lauderdale-based Community Foundation of Broward to support her passions — art, music and animals.
“I think that was her nature,” said Kathie Weiss, who helped Stoykov. “That’s how she was. She would always help out.”
Now living on their non-profit Mill Creek Farm, the Gregorys only became known after their Retirement Home for Horses emerged as an attraction with people able to tour its gently rolling hills and pet the aging horses on Saturdays. More than 250,000 have walked its grounds over the years, Peter Gregory, 83, said.
“We are going to die very poor, but we will die very happy,” said Gregory, who recently celebrated his 58th wedding anniversary with his wife. “We care about what happens to the horses.”
Here are some nice photos from our Horse Tales event last week in Ocala, Florida. Watch for our camp programs in your area! Do you have your summer reading list yet?
Thank you Alan Youngblood and Ocala Star Banner!!
Tim :) —- and many, many thanks to all our wonderful volunteers!
Whose it going to be? Do you have a favorite? Union Rags? Bodemeister?
PP Horse Jockey Trainer ML
1 Daddy Long Legs
C. O’Donoghue A. O’Brien 30/1
2 Optimizer
J. Court D.W. Lukas 50/1
3 Take Charge Indy
C. Borel P. Byrne 15/1
4 Union Rags
J. Leparoux M. Matz 9/2
5 Dullahan
K. Desormeaux D. Romans 8/1
6 Bodemeister M. Smith B. Baffert 4/1
7 Rousing Sermon
J. Lezcano J. Hollendorfer 50/1
8 Creative Cause
J. Rosario M. Harrington 12/1
9 Trinniberg
W. Martinez B. Parboo 50/1
10 Daddy Nose Best
G. Gomez S. Asmussen 15/1
11 Alpha
R. Maragh K. McLaughlin 15/1
12 Prospective
L. Contreras M. Casse 30/1
13 Went The Day Well
J. Velazquez G. Motion 20/1
14 Hansen
R. Dominguez M. Maker 10/1
15 Gemologist
J. Castellano T. Pletcher 6/1
16 El Padrino
R. Bejarano T. Pletcher 20/1
17 Done Talking
S. Russell H. Smith 50/1
18 Sabercat
C. Nakatani S. Asmussen 30/1
19 I’ll Have Another
M. Gutierrez D. O’Neill 12/1
20 Liaison
M. Garcia B. Baffert 50/1
21 My Adonis E. Trujillo K. Breen 50/1
