It’s still open. And it still costs only two carrots to visit.
"Hey Gregory what's up?" asked Paul Gregory as a brown horse strolls up to the white haired horse farmer from behind a fence.
Just off of I-75 in Alachua County awaits greener pastures for the horses here.
"Most of these horses come from Florida,” explained the late Peter Gregory during a visit in 2008. “We have other horses that come from state parks, the rangers' horses. We have horses come from handicapped riding programs. The circus. Sometimes they are found abandoned."
The Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm that Peter founded in 1983 makes each horse a promise.
"First, is you'll never be ridden or worked again. And the second is, you're going to be here forever,” Peter told me while zipping around the farm on his golf cart in 2008.
Today, the younger Gregory is in charge.
"My dad was Peter Gregory,” Paul said proudly. “Incredible guy, animal lover; He was my best friend."
The former South Florida real estate broker vowed to pick up where his father left off upon his passing in March 2014.
"It was a no brainer for me,” Paul said about packing up his fast-paced life in Fort Lauderdale and moving to the slow-natured Alachua, just north of Gainesville.
His father's final wish was quite simple: spend time on the farm with his horses.
"We cremated him, as his wishes were. We scattered him in the field of dreams, our cemetery for the horses,” Peter's son shared.
While summer rains fell across the farm on a Saturday afternoon, the barn stayed busy with the sound of drills buzzing. The farm’s only employee is busy creating a sign that will mark the way to a new pasture to be named after the late Gregory.
Today, there are 120 horses to feed and 335 acres to maintain. Paul believes the farm will hit a limit of 130 horses once the new field opens.
Visitors are welcome on Saturday to help groom and feed the horses. Those two carrots per person that serve as admission don’t go far. Paul recommends you bring a few pounds and a few apples.
Adults without children may come early to volunteer to help groom the horses.
"I want them to take with them that they see these animals are so deserving, are so beautiful, try to figure out why would people want to abuse them or hurt them, and to realize there really are good people in good places on this planet,” Paul said of his family’s life work.
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