The latest addition to the Little America family is Lisa Vanderpump, one of the stars of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Vanderpump Rules, and a celebrity on the 2013 season of Dancing with the Stars.  She asked her friend, Tina to find the smallest, best conformation, light colored miniature horse that could be bought.  Tina, an experienced horsewoman who has trained Polo Ponies and has participated in Polo for years, was the perfect choice for the job.

A mutual friend emailed me about a month ago asking about the smallest and best that we had available and I made some suggestions, but didn’t hear back, so thought nothing of it.  Apparently Lisa, on her own had found a horse advertised as the smallest in the world, so they decided that was the one they wanted.  However, upon flying across the nation to purchase the horse they found that it was not what they were seeking.

Realizing that time was very short because the horse was to be a surprise for Lisa’s husband, Ken Todd, who was having his 70th birthday on July 20, 2015.  The horse had to be there if humanly possible.  It is ironic that that is my wife’s birthday too and the twentieth anniversary of buying our ranch in Buda.  We were at a horse show with three of the Thursday Kids, my daughter Lauren and her boyfriend, thirteen minis and myself.  Tina called but I was in the ring and didn’t check my phone until much later.  In desperation she visited a couple of other places, but everyone told her that if she wanted the smallest available, to go to Little America.  I finally checked my phone Saturday night and found a couple of messages plus texts from Tina.  I called her back that night and said that I would be happy to show her horses when I got back, but that wouldn’t be until Sunday night.

The next morning she called back and asked if there was any way that someone could let her “preview” the horses before I got back.  I reluctantly told her that I would contact Armando, who is my right hand man at the ranch, and she could go over.  Later in the afternoon when I was watching the kids show, Armando called saying that they, Tina and her husband, Hank, liked two of the horses and really needed to get them the next morning.  After talking to Tina on the phone, I agreed and asked Armando to clean the pair, Little America’s Sensational Goldie and Little America’s Galaxy Boogie, up and halter break Galaxy who had just been weaned a few days before.

When I got home Sunday evening, I went to the barn and saw that he had clipped Galaxy and touched up Goldie who had been shown earlier in the year and had also made an appearance with me in February on KXAN’s Studio 512.

He told me that we had to have them at the San Marcos airport at 9 the next morning because they were flying to California to get to a birthday party that afternoon or evening!

When I talked to Tina that night I told her that I needed the contact information for the new owner so I could get the paperwork done.  She asked if she could give me that information when she got back from California because she could not reveal the name of the buyer before the presentation of the horses because it was going to be televised and she was not at liberty to tell me yet.  She also said that she wasn’t sure, but that she might buy one of them and her friend the other, that she would give her a choice.  I said that would be fine and proceeded to get everything ready.  She wanted to also buy a show halter that they could use when the horse was presented at the party.  I always love a good mystery and was up for it!

The next morning Armando and his son, Gabriel, went with me to the airport.  When we got there I wasn’t sure where to go, so pulled into the parking lot and called Tina.  She told me to pull out on to the tarmac and gave me the plane’s number.  She said her husband and son, their pilot, were already there and she was about 15 minutes away.  We pulled our mini pickup and mini trailer out to the plane.  When we unloaded the horses we drew a crowd of the workers and each plane that landed while we were there walking them around.

We took some pictures with Tina and her son/pilot, Houston, then loaded the horses into the plane, a Cessna Mustang.  Another irony, my nephew teaches pilots that plane at Simuflite Dallas, where he and his dad Ricky are both instructors. They had removed two seats, put down a tarp and had it nicely bedded with shavings for the four hour trip to the west coast.

After the horses made it and the party was done, Tina texted me that the buyer was Lisa Vanderpump and they were gifts for her husband, Ken Todd.  A day later I was at the USDA waiting to get paperwork for horses going to Mexico, Ricky called me and said, “Your horses are on TV.  They were just featured on TMZ.”  From there the publicity has been fun to follow.

It turned out, Lisa was shocked to see TWO horses, but decided that she couldn’t choose between the two, so she was going to buy both.   Hank and Tina wanted to buy Galaxy as their gift to Ken, but Lisa insisted and bought both of them. (TMZ reported incorrectly that she got a two for one deal for $3,500.  She had planned on one but ended up buying both.  Many other sources copied the erroneous info.)  It happens that about a year ago after a wonderful evening with Lisa and Ken, Tina asked herself what could she get a person who had everything.  Then she thought, Lisa loves animals, I love horses, how about a tiny miniature horse?  She discarded the thought, then a year later, Lisa came up with the same idea!  What is it they say about great minds?

Guess I will have to set my DVR to record The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills next season so I can keep an eye on our pretty pair!  Stay tuned…

The view of the inside of the plane

Lisa Vanderpump horse stall

Designed and built by Mohamed Hadid

The post Lisa Vanderpump’s Miniature Horses appeared first on Little America Miniature Horses.

And the beautiful van that took them from Finland to Russia:

They certainly traveled in style, arriving in Russia during the first snow of the season.  You can see that they are living in wonderful style in their new barn.    

The following is an article that Peter (Calvin) Goryansky wrote for a Russian publication.  He translated it into English for me and I helped him edit is somewhat, but thought that you might enjoy it.

«The story of small people with the big Love to Miniatures»

     It all began in February, 2005, when at breakfast my family, while watching the morning news on TV, saw a report about American Miniature Horses. My Father has always loved originality, and always likes to be the first to find something new, something that has not been seen in Russia. From that moment my dad couldn’t quit thinking about the miniatures and was determined to be the first to bring them to Russia.

    We have always loved animals, but we have none other than dogs.  Once we decided on miniature horses, we began to study in earnest.  We read many books, studied anything we could find on the Internet, went to exhibitions – but all the exhibitions were for big horses because in Russia practically nobody knew anything about the Miniature Horse. When we were completely convinced that Miniature Horses were what we really wanted, we began to work with the Russian governments learning documents needed for import. This was very difficult because Miniature Horses had never been registered in the Russian Federation. Also we spent quite some time searching for farms to visit in the USA, finally sending out about ten emails to farms that we wished to visit. From all our contacts we finally received an e-mail message from Mr. Tony Greaves who was the former president of American Miniature Horse Association (AMHA), and also is one of the most successful and long time breeders in the world of Miniature Horses! We agreed upon a meeting.

    In June my parents, Leonid and Alla, went with me to the USA. We had never been there before; therefore the first days in New York made a big impression on us.  Upon arrival in state Texas, we were struck with an atmosphere which reigns in the real western small towns with cowboys, with saloons… We have a remarkable time in the city of Austin, capital of Texas where President George Bush had been governor. The Greaves family farm of Little America was just a few miles south of the capital. When we arrived at Tony’s the first time, his wife Carol and daughter, Lauren were very friendly! We examined his huge ranch, and Tony told us in great detail about almost 250 Horses which are kept on his farm. He loves the small size of Miniatures and had probably the largest herd of the smallest horses in America.. After the first meeting we selected several Miniature Horses, several of which were from excellent bloodlines and had show records of their own.  We had learned about lots of famous lines from our study on the internet and were glad to get to see some offspring from those lines.  The next day Tony explained to us about shows in the USA, about registration procedures, about creating clubs, and answered our many questions. … After a week in Austin, we had selected sixteen Miniature Horses who will be the first to arrive in Russia!   One night, we went with the Greaves to a supper in an unusual Texas BBQ restaurant where we simply talked and enjoyed the Texas meal!  We learned that Texans eat a lot more than Russians!

    On arrival in Russia, we were in constant contact with Tony, sending him many questions, and working together on many documents. During this time we got acquainted with many people in Russia which have helped us with the finalization of the documents, shipping and also in the care of horses.

    The negotiations with the Russian Federation stretched the usual thirty day quarantine in Texas to almost ninety days.  Since the shipment to Amsterdam was finally scheduled for the beginning of October, we were able to enjoy another trip to the USA, this time to visit the most important show, the American Miniature Horse World Show, which took place in Ft. Worth, Texas.  We stayed there almost a week and experienced a great variety of emotions! We were struck with amount of classes in competitions (more than 200), Tony introduced us to many very interesting people, and we visited the well-known auction where we bought one more magnificent Horsy from Tony’s farm ready for the next shipment! At the show I especially enjoyed the Liberty Class, where the horse performs with music, showing beautiful movement and natural beauty.   When the music stops, the best performers approached their owner to be haltered. We had a wonderful time! After that we went back to visit our friends at Little America.  We appreciated Tony’s hours of work, with the USDA, export agent, and veterinarians, without which Russia would not get to see these fine creations! And we were so appreciative of Mikki Markowsi, of Emo-Trans, hard work!  It was sometimes difficult to work with some people all over the world, but Mikki helped us properly to make the transfer!

    After our visit with the Greaves, we drove to Houston, meeting the plane which would take them, and us, to Holland where they were to be quarantined again, this time for three weeks, while we cared for final preparations of documents and a new stable. After the quarantine, the horses went on a special big trailer to Germany and there they traveled by ship to the Russian border were my father and brother Evgeny met them.  .The road was difficult, with several stops and sleepless nights because of bad weather. However, on October 19, 2005, our sixteen American Miniature Horses stepped on to Russian ground! They have arrived!  Our farm which we are calling «Little Paradise», is now on the top of the world with happiness!

    The horses were a little restless upon arrival.  Of course they have arrived at a place new to them.  We have spent a lot of time figuring out who are best to share stalls, calming them, petting them, watching them , we seemed more worried than they were!  In the morning, they began to get acquainted with us closer. And here, at last, three stallions have fields in which to run and to do a lot of playing… I am sure that it was a surprise when they went outside and probably for the first time in their life, they saw snow! It was the first snow of the season … they had fun, and we were pleased!  Then the other horses got to enjoy the white miracle!

“Now my parents, brother, his girlfriend, Natalia, and I carry are spending a lot of time with them.  We investigate each other, and they get to know us, as well.  The one thing which is certain is that we like American Miniature Horses!

Calvin Goryansky

The post Little America Goes to Russia appeared first on Little America Miniature Horses.