A horse is a horse?

I miss riding. The feeling of being out for a hack (not a killing spree, a trail ride) on a beautiful fall afternoon enjoying the changing colors of the leaves and crispness in the air, there's nothing quite like it. There is freedom and a sense of exhilaration you experience when you and your horse are out there in the open fields exploring the terrain and breathing in the sights and sounds of things wild. It's a beautiful partnership.

Know what else you can do with a horse? Shrink it down, not into a pony, oh no, into an actual miniature horse. With the features being exactly proportional to those of the "traditional" horse, but instead of riding it, you can put it on a leash and teach it to do tricks! Take it to shows that any looker by would assume is a dog show, but in looking closer would see, not dogs, but...minis!


I kid you not.

I'm all for the minis. They make wonderful companions to people and horse alike and you don't have to feed them or clean up after them nearly as much as their non miniature counterpart. Plus, they have much nicer personalities, meaning they are not as liking to bite or kick as the Shetland Pony, which they can easily be mistaken for. Again, the mini should not be confused with the pony, big mistake if you ever meet a mini owner in person. However,if you're looking for an animal that comes roughly to your waist that you can put on a leash, teach tricks to, and take through obstacles courses by hand, why not the dog? What went wrong with showing the dog?

I've been thinking a lot about this since I saw the sights you are about to see a couple of weekends ago at a local fall fair. And I just can't come to terms with minis and the obstacle course. I know, i know, I go over jumps with my horse too...ahh, yes, but you see, I couldn't strap a saddle to Oscar and ride him over fences. There's the difference. Definitely something to think about.


Exhibit A.



We have lift off




On a lighter note, at the same fall fair while the minis are doing their thang, a team of these big guys gave everyone a near coronary. See them starting to back up? That's not on a command. They can start to spook easily and because they are tied together not only a: is their herd mentality's flight mechanism hightened b: they are nearly impossible to stop when they get going. A team broke through the ring's gate they were in, knocked a bystander in a wheelchair over (thank God the person was fine, the side of the wagon caught the side of the wheelchair) and proceeded to run the length of the fair grounds and crash into a minivan complete with passengers waiting their turn in line to exit the fair. I wonder if the price for admission will go up or down next year?



And one for the road. My two cuties. Don't you think this looks like a cover for a farm magazine or possibly a dog show magazine?