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.