welsh pony antics

back around christmas 1996, we adopted and became the proud parents of four sweet little welsh ponies. apparently the former owner was about 80 and senile and had left the entire herd of 50 to run wild, breaking down fences and winding up running willy nilly across the road and through the neighbors' yards. a good samaritan woman nearby got permission from the state to confiscate the entire herd and before we knew it, we were on our way to pick out the best of the rest.

pony retrieval story on chicago webmaster's 1996 christmas card

"before" pictures of the ponies...

june 1997 - elaine, my four year old daughter, and her pony continue to have a special relationship. only she seems to bring out the lover in this little stallion (well, I should technically say former stallion but he continues to act like one!).

see the professional photos of elaine and her pony...

august 1997 - it is now august 1997 and we've made some serious headway with noble and the other ponies. I've spent a goodly portion of my free time out at the barn working with noble and finally got him to the point last month where I was able to mount and ride. with the help of john lyons techniques and a visit by steve harris to the hooved animal humane society in june, he has been so far calm and quiet.

read the training story through august 1997....

october 1997 - we moved noble from his full-time pasture board donna's farm in freeport to stall board in morton grove in august 1997. he was not happy being cooped up in a stall all day and found a way to tell me so.

so, after being bucked off more times than I care to admit, I finally decided that although noble was a sweet and loving pony, he would never quiet down to be predicable and safe enough for my five and three-year old children. in october 1997, noble went to a new home with cheryl in st. charles, illinois.

december 1997 - we bought a new horse and named him dax

march 2000 - we got in touch with cheryl to see how noble was doing and we are very, very pleased. read the email from cheryl.

june 2013 - cheryl called us in the fall of 2009 and asked if we'd like to have Noble back. Noble arrived at prairie corner farm shortly thereafter.