Soule: Why Is New York City Sheep-less? I'll Tell You The Story.

After playing the slots in Atlantic City, the second phase of my January off-the-farm getaway was a three-day writers' workshop at a hotel near Atlantic City. Then on to New York City.
Besides sightseeing, I was in the city to meet my friend Susan Kristoferson whose artwork was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Paper Legacy" collection and at the Grolier Club exhibit "Pattern and Flow."

Susan, her husband, and I hired a horse and carriage for a tour of Central Park. Our driver, Sully, told us that Sugar, the tall black mare pulling the carriage, lives in a barn a 15-minute walk from the park. "I feed, groom, and talk to Sugar. I treat her like a loved family member," he said.
Sugar and I have something in common. We both need a change of scene once in a while. Sully also told us that Sugar and other NYC carriage horses are periodically sent to a farm upstate, where they romp, graze, and get to express their horseyness.

Sugar, plump and well-groomed, stood still as I buried my nose into her neck and breathed in her sweet horse scent, reminding me of my horses back home in New Hampshire.

"That's Sheep Meadow," Sully said as the carriage passed a 15-acre field. I was excited that sheep might be near, especially when there was so much lawn to munch. But there were no sheep. There used to be.

Click here to find out what happened to the sheep.

Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, N.H., where she raises and sells beef and other local products. She can be reached at carolesoule60@gmail.com.