Shady Grove Haflingers
and Miniature Driving Horses
About Us
Our initial passion was to breed the best Haflingers. We still breed a few. We love to raise and train the babies. But we've largely transformed into a training farm. We know that lot's of people call us each month looking for safe, trustworthy Haflingers. (and Driving Minis.)
We jokingly call them Grandma horses. That is not an insult, it's a philosophy. Grandma's tend to like pretty, athletic horses, but they generally know the value of a sensible horse. Yes, we sell to people of all ages and all types of families. But we're always looking for the next Grandma horse to train. It's a standard. When we remember that Grandmas are often our target customer, we tend to do well.
We're well known in the Haflinger breed. Other breeders know that we'll pay top dollar for a good minded young horse. They tend to call us when they think they have one that meets our standards.
We are not perfect. We are very honest. We take a lot of pride in that. If you see it in on one of our videos, It's probably exactly the behavior you will see when you get to our farm. Not every young horse we train is perfect or "bomb proof." But we don't waste our time or our money training horses that we don't think will be exceptional. Our horses aren't cheap, but they should all have the potential to be someone's dream horse.
Call us. Come visit. We're easy to talk to and we don't mind taking the time to show you our methods. We've been doing this for over 20 years and each year we learn a little more.
Liam Ellingson
Kid and receptionist
Liam Ellingson
Kid and receptionist
John Ellingson
Dad and stall cleaning
Liam Ellingson
Kid and receptionist
Bill Ellingson
John Ellingson
Dad and stall cleaning
Bill is a retired middle school science teacher and he's the backbone of the farm. His horse Cassie was the start of our breeding program and is the foundation of our farm. He loves coming up with new methods to start young horses. It's his science.
John Ellingson
Dad and stall cleaning
John Ellingson
John's profession is ponies and ice cream. During the week, he makes ice cream and judges ice cream competitions. But on the weekends, he loves helping his dad, Bill, train horses and run the farms.