Heidi is a 17-year-old Icelandic horse. I bought her when she was two years old from someone locally who originally bought her from a breeder in Ellensburg, who was dispersing his herd. Heidi has been in 4-H, local parades and playdays, and has experience with the neurodivergent population. Heidi loves everybody, and is an in-your-pocket horse (literally – she might pull something out of your pocket – beware!). She loves any kind of attention.
Stormy is an 18-year-old Icelandic horse. He is a rescue, and I bought him when he was four years old from the feedlot in Zillah. He was from the same breeder as Heidi, but he was one of the unlucky 60 horses who were loaded onto a semi-trailer and taken to the feedlot to be sorted out and sent to slaughter in Canada. Several of us local horse people banded together and tried to find homes for all of them before the shipment was to leave in a week. I’m happy to say we did it, but the conditions he endured at the feedlot were terrible. All the horses were sick with Strangles, had to push their way into the hay feeder to eat, and manure was piled everywhere. He had no training, and we had to form a human chute to get him into the trailer to take home. It took a few months before I was able to handle him. He turned out to be the sweetest boy. He can be a little shy at first.
Roxy is a 17-year-old Welsh/Shetland cross pony. I bought her when she was seven from someone in Walla Walla. She was used for breeding previously and was untrained when she got her, so she had been working on some of the basics, like haltering and leading. I took her to someone locally who put some training on her, but she moved, so she was not finished. Roxy takes a few minutes to trust people at first. She absolutely loves kids. She is sensitive with her ears, so it would be best not to touch them.
Chief is a 19-year-old miniature horse. I bought him when he was 13 years old from an adult who owned him since she was a child. They lived in the mountains in Idaho. He was part of their family and even went in their house. He hadn’t been exposed to much where he lived, so I started taking him to driving classes and a local parade. I was going to use him in my pony ride business at the time, but everything shut down with the pandemic, and I never started up the pony ride business again. Chief is cautious with new people at first since he had a quiet upbringing.
Blossom is a 23-year-old miniature horse. I’ve had her since she was three years old. She came from a small town called Marble, Washington, and was trained to pull a cart. I got her when I first started my pony ride business in 2005, and she gave kids rides for the next 15 years, up until the pandemic started. Blossom is always looking for something to eat, so if you are leading her and there is a spec of grass, she will take you over there to munch on it.
