American Melody Carriages
Our Partners: The Horses of American Melody Carriages
We are pleased to introduce our beautiful equine, and we offer your choice of horse for your carriage, lead-around, or on-site experience!
Our horses receive regular wellness checks, and veterinary care and maintenance on an as-needed and individualized basis best suited to each horse's unique needs. You can hire us with confidence, knowing our horses are very spoiled, loved, and extremely well cared for.
Because we maintain a barefoot herd, quality and consistent hoof care is extremely important. Our horses are on a regular schedule with our farrier for hoof trimming and maintenance, and wear protective boots when needed. Read more about barefoot horses.
Our care regimen includes Triple Crown feeds, alfalfa pellets, free choice hay (seasonally available all day and night), free choice salt and minerals, and free choice pasture. Our horses are free to run, rest, graze, and play on many acres of green grass. They have a very light work schedule and enjoy most of their time getting to be social with each other and their human, and just getting to be horses. Keeping them active helps keep them healthy, gives them a sense of purpose, and helps keep them from getting bored or depressed, much like when we humans have a job of some kind.
Horses are very social animals and are also very curious by nature. They are extremely calming, and can take the stress out of the worst day. Just sitting with them or petting, brushing, or scratching their favorite spots, the enjoyment of handing them a treat and interacting with them is very therapeutic, and we are here to share our horses in various ways by appointment. They enjoy visitors and are very safe, friendly, and calm.
Kaliga and Freedom are always peeking around a corner somewhere, trying to figure out what their human is up to, and hoping that if they can look cute enough, they just might merit an extra treat, or something special.
They have their own special bond, and they thoroughly enjoy life, frequently running, bucking, and grazing side by side. Here, Patriotte, and Sassy (Liberty) (who now works with the Palm Beach County Sherriff's Mounted Patrol) exchange a friendly back scratch.
Both Kaliga and Freedom will greet their human with an excited nicker, and Freedom will often "answer" when she is spoken to.
Kaliga peeks in the door to see what his human is up to, and if there just might be a chance that his cute face will earn him an extra helping of something good, a pat on the head, or a few extra treats.
Though he is the oldest of the group, he is always the first to the gate to greet his human, and he is extremely spoiled and adored.
Horses will often stand nose to tail beside each other so that one can use their tail to shoo the flies of the other's face. This is one of Kaliga's favorite things to do, unless his human is around. In that case, he kindly asks the human to shoo the flies for him.
Another favorite for horses is to stand side by side and use their teeth to scratch each other's backs as seen in the photo above. If a human scratches in this same spot, some horses will try to return the favor, as they would for another horse!
Both Freedom and Belle are frequently caught enjoying a nap in the sunshine. Horses can sleep standing up by locking their knees, and, because they are a flight animal, they will usually only lay down to sleep when they know they are very safe in their surroundings. Here, Kaliga also joins in on the napping!
Freedom peeks in curiously, to see what her human is doing while her companions graze contentedly in the lush grass.
Horses are a herd animal, which means they are usually most comfortable and feel safest when they have a companion of some kind. Our horses are very closely bonded as a whole, and each horse also shares a close bond individually with the others as well.
They are also all extremely trusting of and bonded with their human, and their handlers.