In the countryside of Alachua, past the place where the street signs turn from green to blue, is a tiny one-way road leading into the Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm.
At Mill Creek, the land seems infinite. Miles of green grass continues into a pinpoint, thousands of trees grow to the sky and 128 horses roam in fenced-in stables. This place is a retirement home where horses can live the rest of their lives in peace after spending years in service or neglect.
On Saturdays, the home is free to the public from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and cars can park in the grass outside the entrance gate.
It was a cloudless Saturday afternoon when people of all ages walked through the gate, eager to see the horses. The air had a faint smell of manure, but no one seemed to mind the smell as they fed the horses whole carrots.
A little boy ran through the gate and walked up to a horse with a carrot that was bigger than his arm.
At first, when Dakota the brown horse opened her mouth, the boy backed away, scared. But he tried again, stretching his tiny arm through the fence posts. He jumped, and Dakota made the carrot disappear in one bite.
The boy smiled as he waddled to the next horse, his light-up shoes blinking with each step.
Mary Gregory and her 5-year-old rescue dog, Annie, sat in the driver’s seat of a golf cart parked in the shade and watched as people walked through the entrance of Mill Creek, wandering from horse to horse.
“When you come through the gate as a four-legged animal, you meet a life of luxury,” Gregory said as she pet Annie’s tan fur coat. “Isn’t that right?” she said, leaning toward Annie, who panted in the heat.
Mary Gregory grew up in England at a time where horses in drawn carriages roamed the streets. In England, horses retired after years of service. She said that if she ever had the money, she would open up a retirement home for horses.
So in 1983, she and her husband, Peter, opened the Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm.
Peter Gregory unexpectedly passed away in March. He had visions for the farm’s future, but they were left unfulfilled. But he died doing something he loved: taking care of horses.
After his dad’s sudden death, Paul Gregory took three shirts, packed a single suitcase and drove from Fort Lauderdale to Gainesville. He left behind his job as a realtor to start his new life of taking care of horses.
“This place is so addictive,” he said. “You stay here, look at all the land and never want to leave.”
Last February, the Gregorys bought enough land to take in 28 more horses, but the land sat untouched and untamed.
Gregory knew that he had to fulfill his dad’s vision for Mill Creek. Last Friday, workers installed a well. Volunteers helped clear the land and install a fence.
“Every day you work here, you can make a difference in an animal’s life,” he said, pausing for just a moment. “Or even someone else’s life.“
The best view of the entire property is at the top of a hill, where there’s a tiny bench and a small tree. The spot is a memorial for Paul’s dog, Sally, who passed away a few months ago.
Whenever an animal dies at Mill Creek, it is buried in the Field of Dreams, and Mary plants a tree in their honor. In her lifetime, she has planted 300 trees.
Although the work is hard and losing animals is always sad, the Gregory family wants to continue to help horses and share what they do with the community.
At 3 p.m., the Gregorys close the gate, and people walk away smiling and laughing. They open their car doors, drive away and talk about the next week, when they’ll see the horses once again.
[A version of this story ran on page 12 on 7/1/2014 under the headline "Alachua family provides stable housing for retiring horses"]
Christie waits for someone to feed her a carrot at the Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm on Saturday. The farm is free and open to the public on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
