Gypsy Vanner Horse Farm

We finished our stay in Ocala with a visit to the Gypsy Vanner Horse Farm. As I understand it the Gypsy Vanner breed of horse was a horse developed over a period of many years by the European Gypsies. They wanted to breed a type of horse that was a powerful pulling animal to haul their caravans around yet was smaller and more manageable than the Shire horse or the Clydesdales of the day. A caravan is the covered wagons the Gypsies used as a mobile home much like our modern day travel trailer.  A smaller horse doesn't eat as much and requires less room than the typical draft horses of the day. The Gypsy Vanner horse is sort of like a Clydesdale reduced by about 1/3. The term vanner comes from the old English. Back in history there were draft animals which was any animal pulling anything such as sled dogs, or a horse pulling a plow. A vanner was a horse designed to pull wagons over the roads that existed at the time. The guy that owns Gypsy Gold horse farm is Dennis Thompson. Dennis was the first person to import the Gypsy Vanner breed of horses to the US and has been breeding them ever since. They put on a fabulous 2 hour show with a walking tour around the horse farm, lots of close up contact with the horses and a college professor grade lesson on the history of Gypsies and their culture along with the history of the Gypsy Vanner horse. In any event as a picture is worth a thousand words I'll post some pictures of the Gypsy Gold Vanner horses below.