Cloudy

Cloudy was our first mini. He came from a farm in Oregon where the dirt was a red clay. Cloudy has an exceptionally oily coat for a pony and he must have rolled a lot on this reddish clay because when we bought him, he was a red and pink pony. We had to wash him several times in order to see his true colors, brown and white.

Well, most folk would call his colors brown and white, but horse folk have some fancy names for colors. Red horses are sorrel or chestnut. Golden horses are palomino. And little brown and white minis, like Cloudy, can be Silver Dapple Gray and white. I think that Cloudy appreciates that fanciness!

The kids trained Cloudy to pull carts for 4H competitions. They started training him in the spring and by the end of summer he was ready for the Kitsap County Fair. He collected a handful of ribbons and qualified for the Washington State Fair. The big indoor arena didn’t phase this little guy. The huge draft horses leaning over their stall doors didn’t bother him. His harness breaking in the middle of the show, just meant that he could hang out while the judge stopped the class and we hustled to fix the harness. Cloudy won Reserve Grand Champion in the Driving Pony Category. After that he pretty much always considered himself a champion.

Cloudy went on to be one of the first minis competing in local Combined Driving Competitions. Some folks looked askance at this little equine, they had doubts that he could complete the course. However, by the end of the events Cloudy had a fan club of folks who were impressed by his speed and his ‘can do’ attitude.

Cloudy is now retired as he is close to 30 years old. He hangs out in the barn or wanders the fields. I am sure, that in his mind, he is still the champion driving pony, pulling that cart with panache and precision, making those tight turns, zipping through the timed course, and hearing the applause of the crowd.

Korik

Korik is 28 year old Norwegian Fjord horse trained as a riding horse, a pulling horse, and a driving horse. He was our first horse. We bought him as a yearling and we didn’t know how to take care of a horse. We certainly didn’t know how to train one, but we had books. My husband would be holding Korik’s lead line while my daughter was leafing through a book on How to Train a Driving Horse. We stumbled through things together, this young horse and his family. Luckily Norwegian Fjord horses are patient and forgiving. They are also strong and stubborn. We had to learn how to manage him and he had to learn what to expect from us.

We have had a few ‘Fjord Horse Moments’ when Korik would simply decide that enough is enough and he would walk away from whatever was going on. This could be during a hoof trimming or during a show. Korik is strong and when he puts his muscles to it, he can simply walk away from most of us puny humans. Even with all that strength and muscle, Korik is still considered a pony because he is fourteen one hands in height. We call him the Uber Pony, using the word Uber to mean ‘outstanding or supreme example’. For many years, Korik has been outstanding and a supreme example of his breed. He is not always easy to live with, but it has been one hell of a ride.

Rocky

A rather fine, if stout, pony. Rocky came to us as a young gelding who had lived on a farm with a lot of trees in the pastures. When we led him out into our pastures, he was unused to large open spaces. He tucked himself in under the trees along the edges and it took a while for him to venture out with confidence.

Rocky is curious and rather disdainful of the hotwire fences. If he sees something he wants to investigate on the other side of the fence, he simply lifts up the hotwire and pops under. The rest of the ponies watch this maneuver with awe, but luckily, they have not tried it.

Rocky is stalled next to Korik, our Fjord horse. The two tend to tease each other. Just this morning, I told Rocky, “You know, you two might get on better, if you stopped trying to nip Korik’s nose!” Rocky rolled his eyes at me and totally ignored my advice.

Rocky is trained to pull a cart and he looks quite fine in harness. He is a bay and white pinto from the Timer line and has lovely form and movement.

Mick

It isn’t typical that the most friendly horse in the barn is the stallion. Stallions can be emotional and unpredictable and hard to handle. Or they can be like Mick, calm and predictable. He does show some fire when a mare is in heat and he wants to do what a stallion wants to do – breed the mare. But, even during a breeding, he is easy to handle. Mick is the only stallion that we have ever owned and he sets the gold standard. The foals that he throws are lovely. They have his athletic ability and his calm demeanor.

Mick has sired five foals here on the farm. Three went off to new homes, two – Jack and KC- live here. Jack and KC are both bays, like their sire, Mick, and their dam, Jasmine. That gives us three bay ponies. Sometimes if I am distracted, I will halter up Jack, lead him to the barn, and put him in Mick’s stall. Then I walk in again, leading Mick and I have a moment of confusion. After that, there is stall shuffling until each pony is in the right place.

Mick likes a lot of attention. We plan to train him as a driving pony this coming spring. I think he will enjoy learning how to pull a cart and I know he will turn heads with his shining red bay coat and fine movement.