BRISTOL — When Delinda Ruffino moved to Bristol, she realized a life-long dream: Some 29 acres for her horses to play on – and a little miniature horse to remind her of the importance of life’s little things.
“My dream has always been to live on acreage with animals and to have horses on the property ... I’ve always wanted miniature horses, and I even threatened to get them in Lancaster and hide them behind my tall fence,” she said with a chuckle.
Delinda and Carlos Ruffino and their children, Michaella, now 19, and Robert, 17, relocated to Bristol three years ago from Lancaster, where Delinda owned the shop, Delinda Doolittle’s On the Square.
Once she found her Sugar Ridge paradise, Ruffino began to populate it – a miniature horse here, a miniature Zebu cow there.
Little goats, pale-eyed with velvety noses, curious and infinitely nibbly, that will munch on a pant leg or a lock of hair. They are miniature Nigerian goats, technically milk goats.
She has a rooster, and seven hens to lay a steady stream of fresh, fresh eggs. Then there’s Max the Cat. A long-haired tabby, he’s big-boned, even by Maine Coon cat standards, tipping the scale at 23 pounds and as long in the torso as his mistress.
The Ruffino dogs include two dachshunds, a chocolate lab, a Great Pyrenees watchdog and a cowdog cross.
“I had my own little private petting zoo,” she said.
Without unlimited room to branch out, she had no interest in breeding the animals – and they seemed to get along with each other in a sort of peaceable kingdom.
But something was missing.“I didn’t buy them to procreate, like in the Bible - that was God’s idea,” she said with a smile. “But I realized that the animals liked to be with their own kind. I noticed they were kind of lonely.”
She got another miniature cow to hang out with Charlie, the diminutive Zebu. “They were like instant buddies, and they’d go together everywhere,” she recalled. “I got another donkey, and sure enough, the donkeys hung out together. I had the one miniature horse, then I got him a friend. They really like to be with each other. I guess it’s kind of a no-brainer. They had seemed fine without them, but it’s sweet to see them roaming the pastures together,” Ruffino said.
If the resulting configuration of animals tends to resemble something of a land-based ark, Delinda Ruffino has done her job by finding her animals running buddies.
“They all really do like to be with their own kind,” she said.
The Ruffino’s 29 acres overlook the rolling hills of Bristol, where they have become part of the local constellation of neighbors.
“Sugar Ridge is the prettiest road I’ve seen in North Texas – for sure in Ellis and Dallas Counties,” she said. “And the neighbors are just amazing. I have a handful of friends on this remote road, but there’s a real strong community feeling. And think of it, there are people who live in suburbs, 10 feet from each other, and they don’t know their neighbors. They never get together with them,” she said.
Together with three of her fellow Sugar Ridge equestriennes, Delinda Ruffino’s a member of the Polka Cowgirls, an equestrian group that decorates their horses as living floats for area parades.
It’s all far from the bustling world she once knew. Raised in Houston, Delinda had an international modeling career that began in New York, taking her to the West Coast and then Europe and points east – including Germany, Italy, Paris and Tokyo – before landing her in Dallas in 1984.“ Traveling was amazing, it was like an education, and it was my school,” she recalled.
She stayed in Dallas, working as a model’s agent for an agency and then working at an agency representing makeup artists and stylists for print and TV gigs.
In 1988, she got married, she got pregnant – she got retired.
An aspiring artist, she’s turning the pool house into an art studio. She favors a break from the traditional, preferring impressionistic and expressionistic design. Her whimsical works are frequently vividly hued, done in a variety of media, pastels, pen, watercolor and her favorite, multi-media collage.
She’s active with the Ennis Garden Club, and with her church in DeSoto. And the drama training she got years ago? Finally, it’s found a home as well. She has appeared in three Neil Simon plays at the Ennis Public Theatre, and she’s an avid supporter of the theater as well.“I’ve done three plays with Bill Rhoten – I really love that theater,” she said. “I’d love to do at least one a year.”
“My dream has always been to live on acreage with animals and to have horses on the property ... I’ve always wanted miniature horses, and I even threatened to get them in Lancaster and hide them behind my tall fence,” she said with a chuckle.
Delinda and Carlos Ruffino and their children, Michaella, now 19, and Robert, 17, relocated to Bristol three years ago from Lancaster, where Delinda owned the shop, Delinda Doolittle’s On the Square.
Once she found her Sugar Ridge paradise, Ruffino began to populate it – a miniature horse here, a miniature Zebu cow there.
Little goats, pale-eyed with velvety noses, curious and infinitely nibbly, that will munch on a pant leg or a lock of hair. They are miniature Nigerian goats, technically milk goats.
She has a rooster, and seven hens to lay a steady stream of fresh, fresh eggs. Then there’s Max the Cat. A long-haired tabby, he’s big-boned, even by Maine Coon cat standards, tipping the scale at 23 pounds and as long in the torso as his mistress.
The Ruffino dogs include two dachshunds, a chocolate lab, a Great Pyrenees watchdog and a cowdog cross.
“I had my own little private petting zoo,” she said.
Without unlimited room to branch out, she had no interest in breeding the animals – and they seemed to get along with each other in a sort of peaceable kingdom.
But something was missing.“I didn’t buy them to procreate, like in the Bible - that was God’s idea,” she said with a smile. “But I realized that the animals liked to be with their own kind. I noticed they were kind of lonely.”
She got another miniature cow to hang out with Charlie, the diminutive Zebu. “They were like instant buddies, and they’d go together everywhere,” she recalled. “I got another donkey, and sure enough, the donkeys hung out together. I had the one miniature horse, then I got him a friend. They really like to be with each other. I guess it’s kind of a no-brainer. They had seemed fine without them, but it’s sweet to see them roaming the pastures together,” Ruffino said.
If the resulting configuration of animals tends to resemble something of a land-based ark, Delinda Ruffino has done her job by finding her animals running buddies.
“They all really do like to be with their own kind,” she said.
The Ruffino’s 29 acres overlook the rolling hills of Bristol, where they have become part of the local constellation of neighbors.
“Sugar Ridge is the prettiest road I’ve seen in North Texas – for sure in Ellis and Dallas Counties,” she said. “And the neighbors are just amazing. I have a handful of friends on this remote road, but there’s a real strong community feeling. And think of it, there are people who live in suburbs, 10 feet from each other, and they don’t know their neighbors. They never get together with them,” she said.
Together with three of her fellow Sugar Ridge equestriennes, Delinda Ruffino’s a member of the Polka Cowgirls, an equestrian group that decorates their horses as living floats for area parades.
It’s all far from the bustling world she once knew. Raised in Houston, Delinda had an international modeling career that began in New York, taking her to the West Coast and then Europe and points east – including Germany, Italy, Paris and Tokyo – before landing her in Dallas in 1984.“ Traveling was amazing, it was like an education, and it was my school,” she recalled.
She stayed in Dallas, working as a model’s agent for an agency and then working at an agency representing makeup artists and stylists for print and TV gigs.
In 1988, she got married, she got pregnant – she got retired.
An aspiring artist, she’s turning the pool house into an art studio. She favors a break from the traditional, preferring impressionistic and expressionistic design. Her whimsical works are frequently vividly hued, done in a variety of media, pastels, pen, watercolor and her favorite, multi-media collage.
She’s active with the Ennis Garden Club, and with her church in DeSoto. And the drama training she got years ago? Finally, it’s found a home as well. She has appeared in three Neil Simon plays at the Ennis Public Theatre, and she’s an avid supporter of the theater as well.“I’ve done three plays with Bill Rhoten – I really love that theater,” she said. “I’d love to do at least one a year.”
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