SEQUIM – These horses and these dreams took more than six years to get here.
When you lay eyes on the stallion Starcastle Titan and his harem, you see why.
John and Heather Erskine of Monroe bought 30 acres of farmland off Woodcock Road in the summer of 2001, and planned to move onto it, build a house and put their shire horses on the green pastures spread out below the high Olympics.
But life, as John Lennon said, happens while you’re making other plans.
The Erskines already had a farm in Monroe in Snohomish County. They owned just an acre and leased lots more.
Besides running the High Bridge Shires operation, John collects and refurbishes non-motorized farm equipment, wagons, carriages and other antique horse-drawn contraptions.
That’s one vocation; another is teaching clinics on how to farm the good old-fashioned way: with that ancient biofuel, horsepower.
At last, this spring, John found time to pack up several buildings full of equipment and vehicles, trailer his 11 shires – Starcastle, who goes by Ty, and 10 mares – and come west.
Ask him how old he is, and John says, “28, 29 – up here,” pointing to his tanned forehead.
In fact he’s 64 and ready to start a new adventure.
First, foals will come this spring.
Two of the mares, Izzy and Katie, are pregnant and due by June.
Caring for the horses makes plenty of work, of course, but John’s agenda also includes building a shop where he’ll repair buggies, wagons and their wheels.
