The namesakes of Red Pony Ranch

I thought I'd start this next blog with the reason for our farm's name of Red Pony Ranch. Well, this is the only picture I could find of all THREE red ponies, but the farm name came from them! (I know this is another snowy picture and it's making it look like it snows a lot here, but truly it doesn't! It was just so remarkable that I took a lot of pictures of it!)

So this picture shows, from left to right: Maddie, an 18 year old miniature horse mare; then Little Bit, a 12 year old pony who thinks he's Fabio; and then Yakki, a 14 year old pinto miniature horse and our littlest in size but not in attitude!

Maddie was actually the 2nd horse we got (after Bailey the clydesdale, more on him another time) and she is definitely the sweetest. She will stand motionless for a long time as long as you are brushing her. She loves little kids and gives kisses, especially if you have a treat for her.

Yakki came to belong to us after I started looking for a companion for Maddie, as she was lonely. A wonderful lady named Chris gave him to us and he's been a great addition to our farm. He stomps to express his displeasure, even at the neighbor's dog and when Bailey gets too close to his girlfriend! Not much is funnier than watching fat little Yak tear around his paddock, except of course when he's trying to avoid us putting on his evil fly mask.

Little Bit is a pony with a checkered history. I came to know him when a friend of mine found him abandoned in a field, sick and lonely, so she brought him home. As he needed to not be on grass for a while, he was put in with my two minis and that's when I fell in love with him. He's 43 inches tall and has more hair than two ponies! He also knows how to pull a cart and one of our best days ever was taking him to the beach and just zooming around. He is also a great little riding pony for a kid smart enough to put up with his pony attitude! This picture is of him and his friend Katie.

Little Bit is everyone's best friend here on our farm. Right now he's out with Bailey on our leased pasture, but when the rainy season starts, he and Bail will come home and go back out with the donkeys. That will make baby Daisy very happy as he is her wrestling buddy! Little Bit doesn't like hay (yes, his teeth have been done) so he starts the winter nice and chubby from grass and then I struggle all winter to get him to eat SOMETHING (mostly beet pulp) and by spring he's pretty thin. Who ever heard of a picky pony!