Gypsy Gold Horse Farm

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Dennis and Cindy Thompson came across the breed in Britain in the middle 1990s, working horses kept by Romany families and bred over generations for strong bone, heavy feathering on the legs, calm temperament and the coloring that makes them recognizable at a distance. No one had given the type a name or a registry. The Thompsons imported the first of them in 1995 and 1996, named the breed, and founded the society that registers it. The farm runs a breeding program with stallions and broodmares and sells horses, but what it is known for is the tour: two hours, led by Dennis Thompson himself, covering where the breed came from and the people who made it, with time among the horses and the other animals on the place. It is booked in advance rather than dropped in on. The number is 352-817-1777. Alongside the breeding the farm runs an embryo transfer program and markets horses for other breeders, and there is a shop selling saddlery and farm goods. Ocala is horse country of the thoroughbred sort, so a working farm devoted to a heavy colored driving breed is an oddity here, and that contrast is part of what makes the visit worth the drive