Our Philosophy

Our goal at Riftswood is to consistently produce happy, healthy horses for people to enjoy, whether it be a top quality show horse or just a little horse to hug.
There are Riftswood Miniatures in happy homes from coast to coast, from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland.

What's In A Name?

Although Riftswood has been our miniature horse prefix since 1987, we had used it for many years previously for our full size horses and our Irish Wolfhounds.
The name originated in 1974 when we needed a registered kennel name for our second wolfhound. At that time we lived on the edge of a small coastal town in the Northeast of England, overlooking a beautiful wooded valley which stretched for several miles, ending at a golden sandy beach. An area of woodland in the valley was known as Rifts Wood. We combined the two words into one and voila: RIFTSWOOD.
We came to Canada in 1979 and continued to use the name here. Pat and I both have a love of horses and, after buying an acreage in 1981 we began raising Arabian and Part Arabian horses as well as Wolfhounds. In 1987 some friends (who were in the process of moving house) asked us if we could board a colt for a while. We said yes without asking what breed of horse it was... of course it was a mini, and we were hooked! We got our first minis that same year and had our first foal in 1988.
With us only having a few acres, we eventually had to make a choice between full-size horses and minis -- and we all know who won! Although we still have Wolfhounds, we no longer breed them, so the Riftswood prefix is used solely for our miniature horses and as a reminder of our roots.
- Dave & Pat Williams