Nestled in the cool shade of live oak trees, with the Florida sun sparkling through the hanging moss, is a quiet farm, just 10 minutes from the hustle and bustle of the Ocala Winter HITS Circuit. It is a working farm, not a show barn, or training center, but a place where life begins, for a select group of foals, each spring. It is a haven for a few lucky mares that get to come and stay awhile to have their foals under the protective and knowledgeable eye of Judy Yancey.

Judy Yancey may not be a name often read in horse show reporting, but it is a name well known among breeders in both Europe and the United States, as a source for the kind of horse she has always wanted for herself, "the perfect amateur horse with fancy bloodlines." Originally established in Texas in 1975, Yancey Farms was the home of the famous Trakehner stallion, Donauwind, sire of the Olympic gold and silver medal winner Abdullah.

She prefers fillies, and breeds her mares after the beginning of ovulation to increase the odds. Making frequent trips to the Oldenburg area of Germany, Yancey was the only American who had a mare selected as one of the top 100 Oldenburg mares in Germany to compete at Rastede in June 2003. On the signs of each of the stalls in her pristine barns, beneath the names of the mares and foals, are the names of their absentee fathers; famous stallions such as, Diamond Hit, Friedensfuerst, Lord Sinclair, Granulit, Rubenstein, Dream of Glory, Don Schufro, Weyden, and Gaucho III, to name a few.