Were just not horsing around; we're having fun.
Our company started in 1996. I had an old carriage in my front yard; basically a lawn ornament. One day a local senior gentleman suggested I get a horse and take him for a ride in that buggy. I thought that was a great idea. After a good measure of work, including a full refit of the February 7, 1888 -built cart by shipwright Lloyd Lantz, he got his ride. Our name came as the result of a contest for the elementary children won by a then grade three student, Claire Coulter, who got a pizza party with her friends in thanks for her great idea. A tour with us is like stepping back in time complete with an authentic carriage - a trot in time.
Our first horse came from the Ernst family who live near Lunenburg. Gregg & Jenny Ernst became dear to my heart. Jenny's had been doing wagon rides with her horse, Cindy, but with ten children it was getting too hard to manage that business. And so Cindy became Trot in Time's first steed. She retired in 2000 and laid down for a final rest in 2003. Please visit her memorial page.
In 2000 I was fortunate to be able to buy a property, complete with house and barn, only 1000 feet outside the town limits.
From there, as the saying goes, it's all history. Cindy and I hit the streets for the next two years. In the third year I purchase Bob. The forth year I added a second replica carriage. In the ninth year it was three carriages. Operating since 1996, today we have six Belgians, three carriages, six drivers, and a ranch hand as of today!
The drivers are experienced handlers and each works with a horse specifically matched with them. Shifts are scheduled in a way that allows the horses to work only five days a week for four and one half hours per day. The peak season lasts approximately four months of the year. Work is lighter in the off season and they get a six month winter vacation. Because the horses don't have head lights or windshield wipers, they do not work at night or in the rain!
We care a great deal about our horses and invite visitors to schedule a visit to the barn if they'd like to see where they live.