Kendall was raised in a small town in Iowa. His Mom and Dad felt it important that he and his brother and sister all have a love for animals. He grew up raising a variety of animals including parakeets, pigeons, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and a wonderful buckskin riding mare named Ginger.

Sharman was a farm girl also raised in Iowa. One of six children, she helped out doing many chores on the farm. There were crops of corn and soybeans to be raised and many animals to be tended. Hogs were raised along with purebred Angus cattle. A team of Belgium work horses and several riding horses were her favorite animals.

We met and married in Iowa. After graduating from Iowa State University, Kendall accepted a job with a large corporation that was responsible for the move from Iowa to Massachusetts, then to Michigan and finally to Texas. We have one daughter Lori who lives in Florida with her husband Darren and two sons Clint and Nick.

After more than 35 years in the workforce and after 21 years of living in Allen, a suburb just north of Dallas, a gigantic new high school campus was being built at the end of our street. The town of Allen was and is rapidly growing and the area where we lived was becoming more and more congested. For years we had talked about moving to the country and this latest development prompted us to look for "our place in the country". During the time we lived in Allen, we saw it grow from a mere 4,400 to now over 40,000 with no end in sight; it was time to go!

After looking at many, many properties over several months, a real estate ad caught our eye while eating a pizza in a Bonham, Texas restaurant. The property seemed made to order -- 55 acres, part pasture, part wooded with three ponds, a hunting cabin in the woods and wildlife, including deer, quail, turkey, coyotes, skunks, possums, coons, fish, etc. The property was beautifully laid out with many varieties of trees, primarily large towering oaks, dogwoods and redbuds, populating the land. Hence the name…Thousand Oaks Ranch.

The realtor listing the property actually tried to discourage us from buying it because it was too secluded. However, after several months of negotiating with the owner who happened to live in Scotland, we came to an agreement. We purchased the property and moved there in August 1997.

A few months later in October 1997, in the classified ad section of our rural electric company newsletter, we noticed an ad where someone needed to sell two miniature mares due to a personal situation. We called for more information and went to see them. Of course, like many others before us, we were quickly taken in by their affectionate personalities and decided to purchase both of them. One, Candie, was a top quality 10-year old sorrel mare and the other was Crystal, her beautiful 6 year old silver dapple daughter. This was the beginning of our miniature horse herd.

Crystal came to us with a trophy so we investigated and discovered that miniatures are shown. With a little more checking, we discovered an upcoming miniature show so we went to Glen Rose, Texas to see what it was all about. We discovered the horses come in all sizes and colors and at that point, we were hooked. We did some research and chose a trainer, Sharron Hinkle, Sharrway Farm, to help us out and show us the ropes. Sharron and her husband Wayne were great! They have been in the miniature horse business a long time and gave us a lot of help and valuable advice. Candie came to us in foal and gave birth to a wonderful colt, Thousand Oaks Bandelero (Bandy) and we purchased another colt, Thousand Oaks Windwalker (Walker). We ended up showing them both. Initially, only Sharron showed the horses, then Sharman got into the act. At the end of the 1999 show season, Bandy was pinned National Area V Champion Yearling Stallion and was also a National Top Ten Yearling Stallion. Walker was many times a grand champion, a supreme champion and a Central Region Champion 2 Year Old Stallion. That was the line and sinker to go with the hook and we have been raising miniatures ever since.

Our goal for our ranch business is to produce, sell, and show national champion quality registered miniature horses. We are meeting these goals. We also want to enjoy the wonderful people we have come in contact with and the horses we raise and show. We feel if we do this with an eye on the business aspects of the operation, the bottom line of the business will take care of itself.

Enjoy our website!

Kendall & Sharman Brown
November 2007