Mick Massey: an English Lifetime of Farming with Horses

by Lynn R. Miller of Singing Horse Ranch

We were thrilled, this last April, when Mr. and Mrs. Mick Massey came all the way from England to join us for our annual auction and swap meet. They were a colorful addition to the festivities and Mick was an obvious lover of the horses and the equipment. So much so that he purchased a riding plow which we are shipping by boat to the island nation for him. Busy as we were we still found time to enjoy several quick visits with these wonderful folk and it was during one of those conflabs that I got to see a fistful of photos documenting a long and happy life working with Shire horses. It took 3 seconds for me to say ‘we need to get these in the Journal’ and they consented. Mick has long been a champion of Shires of the correct working type, not finding much interest in the brewery-tall types.

These photos are wonderful, each telling long and intricate tales if we let them.

The Massey’s came out, after the auction, for a quick pass around our poor ranch here in the foothills of the Cascades Mountains. Mrs. Massey was chuckling when she said something like, “Oh, Mick’s in a bit of heaven here, he is, what with all these old tools. He could just wander about for days.” True enough he was in that brisk walk, leaning forward, posture of the anxious lover of the old iron.

Speaking of love; Mick, with a twinkle in his eye said “Me and the Mrs. never had a proper honeymoon. Had to go right to work day after the wedding, that was many years ago. This here trip is our honeymoon.” Wish you could have been there to see their smiles, would have melted butter.

We sure are fortunate to have met and shared a week’s fun with this gentle folk on their honeymoon. – LRM