Crazy W Farm

In the 1940's and 50's the Weitzel boys, who lived in Wellington, Ohio, discovered the joy in horses while traveling in western U.S. They brought back that fun here to Northeast Ohio, by putting on Shows. The Shows were a combination of rodeos, fun classes on horseback, and three-gaited classes. One of the old show bills still exists and is in the home of Richard R Weitzel Sr.

Many years later after the Weitzel boys had gone their separate ways, one of the brothers, Richard introduced horses and showing to his children. Richard purchased a farm on West Ridge Rd in 1967 and began buying and selling horses. The family named the farm Crazy W, for obvious reasons this name fit (some say the farm was named after the family pet donkey, Crazy Willie). Richard Sr. enrolled his children into Lorain county 4-H horse program. Later he started his own 4-H club and named it the Buckaroos.

Richard Sr. eventually made an arena at Crazy W for the local 4-H program to hold horse shows. Soon Richard Sr. started selling tack and saddles to the kids & their families that came to the horse shows because of a lack of tack shops in the area. They started that tack shop on the front porch of the farm and it was later moved to LaGrange Rd. The shows were eventually moved out to the Metro parks as well. The tack shop no longer exists but horse shows are still held at the Metro parks on select Sundays.

Richard Weitzel Sr.'s only son Ric, followed in his father’s footsteps with his love for horses. Ric currently has his own farm on RT 58 in Oberlin only 5 miles from Crazy W farm. You can visit his website at www.crazyw.com. Richard’s youngest daughter Amy currently operates the farm, working with horses, running two dog rescue group and helping her father sell flowers throughout the year.