Horses are as American as apple pie. There are roughly 9.2 million horses in the United States today... more than any country on earth. Russia is a distant second with just 1.3 million horses. Here in Georgia, the City of Milton has the largest concentration of horses between Lexington, Kentucky and Ocala, Florida.

At the time Milton County was established in 1838, horses were considered beasts of burden - working on farms and providing transportation. Milton County became a stopover for pioneers traveling between the mountain communities and the railroad terminus - later named Atlanta. Folks would say, "Good horses make short miles."

From its inception, Milton County suffered one devastating hardship after another. First came the Civil War, then a smallpox epidemic, followed by the boll weevil infestation, and ultimately the Great Depression, which forced Milton County to merge with Fulton County to save it from bankruptcy

Mark, his wife Amy, and son Wyatt moved to Milton in 2017. While in Kirkland, Washington, Mark's family lived in a home designated as an historic landmark. Mark served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Kirkland Heritage Society. Mark is a Lifetime Member of that society, as well as the Heritage Association of Frisco, Texas. Mark has held various leadership roles in sales and marketing during his career, working primarily at Sprint and Microsoft.

Byron is a native of Atlanta and grew up in Sandy Springs, Georgia. After graduating from Georgia Tech with a degree in Structural Engineering, Byron worked as a contractor for NASA. He spent 10 years with the lunar landing program and other space projects, including work on the Saturn V rocket. Byron next spent 29 years working for the Corps of Engineers on large civil works projects in the Southeastern United States. Byron's mother, grandparents, and great grandparents were born in Milton County. He is the fourth generation to live on the family farm located in Milton.