She Named the Farm After Her Soulmate. He Just Happened to Be a Horse.

Do you believe dreams begin before we’re fully grown?

Before we know what a mortgage is, before we learn to settle, before the world tells us to stay inside the lines, some part of us already knows what we’re here to build. For Christy, it started with mud pies and animal footprints. The kind of kid who’d rather talk to frogs than do math homework. Who felt more herself barefoot in the woods than at any school desk. She got her first horse when she was ten. By twelve, she met Beau and the rest of her life began.

Beau wasn’t just a horse. He was the kind of soul that makes you better just by being near. He raised Christy, in a way. Carried her through every heartbreak, every growing pain, every version of who she became. She brought him to college. He kept her grounded. And long after he passed, he still does. That’s why this farm - tucked into a stretch of Morris County land she once could only dream of - is called BEAUtiful Farm. It’s not just named after him. It is him. His memory. His legacy. His quiet, steady love written into every fence post and hoofprint on the trail.

The Horse Who Raised Her

Most people don’t get a soulmate when they’re twelve. But Christy did and he had four legs, a powerful canter, and the kind of eyes that could cut through every bit of static in the world. His name was Beau.

He came into her life when she was on the edge of everything: adolescence, heartbreak, finding out who she was and who she didn’t want to be. Beau wasn’t loud about it. He didn’t ask for anything extra. But every day, no matter what was happening in Christy’s world, he showed up. And in return, so did she. That’s what it was: a silent, sacred agreement between a girl and her horse.

I was the kid who didn’t want to sit still. I wanted to be outside, making mud soup, following frogs around, brushing horses.

School didn’t always make sense, but the barn did.

I got my first horse at ten. Her name was Trinket. She made me fall in love with the lifestyle. But Beau? Beau is what changed my life.

She brought him to college. Turned down parties so she could be up early to feed and ride. When life gave her chaos, Beau gave her structure.

He helped me navigate the hardest times of a girl’s life. First heartbreak, first house, first time I felt like I could do this - really do this.

While her friends were chasing boyfriends and brand names, Christy was chasing purpose and Beau was her compass.

I made every decision in my life with him in mind. Even now. Everything we do at the farm - every animal we bring in, every choice I make - it has to be Beau-approved.

Beau didn’t care about ribbons. He didn’t need a trophy shelf to prove anything - though he had one. Grand Champion at the ESDCTA nationals. Regional winner three years straight. A machine in the ring, a gentle giant in the barn. But what made Beau different wasn’t what he won. It’s what he taught.

He taught Christy how to sit through chaos and keep her balance. How to feel the moment a horse finally trusts you and leans into the bit. How to listen when no one’s speaking. He raised her in the quiet ways that matter most.

He lived thirty years. Thirty years of memories, milestones, and lessons that couldn’t be learned any other way. And when he passed in 2019, the grief was bigger than just loss, it was the end of a chapter. But Christy didn’t close the book.

She picked up a hammer, a dream, and a name that would carry him forward forever: BEAUtiful Farm.

Naming a Farm After a Ghost Who Never Left

The first time Christy saw the property, it didn’t make any damn sense. A crumbling stone house. A rotting barn. Trees leaning so hard into the roof they looked like they were trying to break in. No one in their right mind would call it perfect…but Christy did.

It was like a Thomas Kinkade painting - except completely falling apart. A mess. But it had magic. I could see it. Even when no one else could.

Back in 2017, it was just a pipe dream. Too expensive. Too far gone. She was dating Brian at the time, and he humored her with weekend visits to random properties across North Jersey. They’d joke about turning this one into a farm someday. But everyone told them it was a bad idea - too much risk, too much work.

And then, in 2018, they were standing on the shore in Maui - freshly married, buzzed on saltwater and new beginnings - when Christy looked at Brian and said:

Let’s just call the realtor. I don’t know why. I just feel like we have to.

So they did. And months later, against every odd and obstacle, the deal went through. Kind of. It took seven months of stress, permits, and fighting through buried oil tanks and structural disasters before they could finally say it out loud: it’s ours.

They moved in on April 15, 2020…the same day the rest of the world shut down.

They spent eleven months rehabbing it before they could even live in it. Trees had to be cut down just to access the house. The original slate roof had black mold. Contractors bailed when they found a nest of black rat snakes hidden under the concrete.

They were panicked, calling Brian at work like, ‘There are snakes coming out of the walls!’ And he was like, ‘Oh, black rat snakes? They’re harmless. Chill.’ But the contractors were done.

There were bats in what is now their bedroom. No one could find the septic tank. For a while, they didn’t know if the land could even sustain the kind of farm they envisioned. Yet they kept going. Giving up wasn’t on the table. This wasn’t just about building a place to live. This was about bringing Beau home.

He never made it to BEAUtiful Farm. But he’s here. His spirit is in the fields, the fences, the way we treat our animals. He guides everything I do.

And even as they cleared brush and buried the past, something else was blooming. The start of something big. Something sacred. A place that would become home - not just for Christy and Brian, but for every broken horse, kid, or grown-up who needed it.

A Farm for the Misfits, the Wild Ones, and the Left-Behind

If you show up at BEAUtiful Farm expecting perfectly preened show ponies and photo-op lessons with matching helmets, you’re in the wrong place. This is a sanctuary, and the horses here? Most of them weren’t “supposed” to end up champions.

They were too much. Too nervous. Too broken. Until Christy brought them home.

She doesn’t take horses on trial. She doesn’t run behavioral tests or demand clean histories. She trusts her gut. And it’s never failed her.

I just know. I can’t explain it. I feel it. I see a horse, and I know they’re meant to be here - even if it makes no sense on paper. Brian always thinks I’m nuts. But they all turn into unicorns.

There’s no pressure to perform here. No punishment for being sensitive. No shame if you don’t get it right the first time. Instead, the farm runs on kindness. Empathy. Trust. And what happens when you teach that way? The horses respond. They soften. They lead. And the people do too.

We had a girl named Avery come in at 12. She was nervous. Not very confident. She started with our pony, just working on basics. Around the same time, we took in Masi - an abused horse that needed so much love. I paired them up.

It was risky. But it worked. Because the two of them needed each other.

They grew together. She learned to trust him. He learned to trust her. Now they’re jumping 3-foot courses together. They go to the beach. They’re unstoppable. He’s her soulmate, just like Beau was mine.

That’s the thing about BEAUtiful Farm. It’s not about producing perfect riders. It’s about building trust. Healing trauma. Relearning confidence on the back of a horse who gets it. Because more often than not? These horses have survived their own battles too.

It’s symbiotic. The kids build the horses’ confidence. The horses build the kids’. It’s wild to watch. But it’s real.

There’s no one-size-fits-all here. Adults ride. Kids groom. Some folks just come to breathe in the space, pet the dogs, gather eggs, or sit by the creek. You don’t have to ride to be part of this place. You just have to show up and the farm will meet you where you are.

Pop-Ups, Cow Visits, and Big Dreams

Like most good things on this farm, it started because of a problem. Winter hit hard. The ground froze. The riding lessons stopped. Christy couldn’t safely bring students to the farm and suddenly, the heart of her day-to-day work was on pause. So she improvised.

She loaded up the trailer. Packed carrots. And took Wendy the cow on the road.

It was just supposed to be a little thing. A fun visit, a way to keep the magic going when people couldn’t come to us. But people LOVED it. Wendy’s basically famous now.

What began as a quick fix has become a full-on program. BEAUtiful Farm now does mobile visits - farm joy brought straight to your door. Wendy’s not alone either. Sometimes she rolls up with chickens. Sometimes with stories. But always with that same mission: to connect people with animals in the realest, gentlest way possible.

It’s part of a bigger shift. Because while the farm will always be home base, Christy and Brian are dreaming wider now. Retreats. Events. Riding intensives. Garden-to-table cooking classes. There’s even talk of weddings.

I want someone to get married here. I want this place to witness that kind of joy. There’s just something about the land - it holds space for people.

And she means that literally. BEAUtiful Farm sits at the edge of woods with hidden trails, a shallow creek filled with crayfish and fish, and a spot Christy calls the Fairy Forest. She sprinkles gems out there sometimes so kids can find treasure. It’s part real, part imagination and all intentional.

Sometimes I just go out there alone. Sit on a rock. Listen to the water. Watch the farm from a distance. It’s peaceful in a way you don’t get in most places. And it makes me think: this is what Beau would’ve wanted.

That’s the thing about this place. It never stops growing. Not just with soil and seeds and new animals, but with purpose.

Every season brings a new project. A new plan. A new way to reach people who forgot what it feels like to be outside with their hands in the dirt and a happy pig rooting beside them.

At BEAUtiful Farm, healing doesn’t look like a self-help book or a perfectly curated retreat.

It looks like a muddy creek. A snorting pig. A tired horse who finally trusts again.

And a woman who built it all in honor of her first love.

What You Take With You When You Leave

Nobody leaves BEAUtiful Farm the same way they arrived. You might come in looking for a riding lesson, or a photo with a pig, or just a break from the noise, but what you end up finding? Is something way deeper.

It’s in the way the horses look at you. Not past you - at you. It’s in the rhythm of brushing their coat, of listening more than speaking, of slowing down enough to feel what your body’s been holding onto for too long. It’s in the cold splash of creek water on your ankles. The dirt under your fingernails. The quiet.

This farm reminds people who they were before they got too busy, too broken, too boxed in.

I want people to realize that life is good. That dirt and sunshine and animals can fix more than we think. That growth is real—and it doesn’t come from rushing, it comes from tending.

BEAUtiful Farm was built from the ground up by two people who had no roadmap, no trust fund, and no backup plan. Just a dream, a handful of animals, and a horse who left his hoofprints on everything they’d go on to create.

And now? That dream is wide open to anyone who needs it.

Come to brush a horse. Or to walk a trail. Or to let your kid hand-feed Wendy.

Come if you’ve felt disconnected, tired, shut-down.

Come if you’ve been meaning to breathe deeper.

You don’t need to know anything about animals. You don’t have to ride. You don’t even have to talk.

You just have to show up and this place will meet you right where you are.

Want to feel it for yourself?

Come visit the farm. Walk the trails. Meet the horses. Pet the pig. Or just breathe for a minute.

BEAUtiful Farm

📍 91 Jacobs Road Rockaway Twp, NJ 07866

📞 Phone: 973-270-7769

💌 Email: BeeBEAUtifulFarms@gmail.com

📲 Learn more, book a visit, or follow their journey: BEAUtiful Farms

📦 Bonus: Ask about their traveling pop-ups if you want the animals to come to YOU. Life isn’t always easy, but it’s still BEAUtiful.