Bee~ Journal of then...

[Beekissed]

Farm, what do you think about Halflingers for working ponies?

 

[big brown horse]

With the POA I think it is the indian pony bloodlines. Used to working all day with little food and no reward. They are tough little wonders for sure.

I think ponies in general are under rated. Too many of them were never properly trained and develop nasty habits because of it, then give the rest a bad name. Ponies are SMART. Sometimes that is their undoing as well. They are happiest when hard at work. Idle ponies get bored and become tricky and think up things to keep themselves entertained. A pony can pull close to three TIMES their weight and work all day pulling up to two times their weight. Just look at those little coal mine ponies of yesteryear, they hauled huge cars of coal daily.

Ditto FF.

I had a pony that would let out only his friends with his "prehensile lip" to get into mischief at night. Even if we moved the horses around to mix him up, he would find them and let them out. Leaving most of the other horses behind in their stalls. We had to padlock anything we didn't want him to open.

POA's are worth their weight in gold. I just don't find them too attractive tho. But if I didn't have these three rescued oafs that I have now, I would def. get my daughter a POA.

 

[big brown horse]

Halflingers are stunning little horses. I think they are so beautiful!!

 

[Farmfresh]

I agree they ARE awesome. The Haflingers in our area anyway are pricey however. They are really more in the short wide horse category than the true pony category in my book anyway. I have known a few of them.

One pair of Haflingers was owned by a friend of mine. He has been a horseman for years, but was known to have a temper as well. When he was younger he trained Paints as he got older he worked primarily with heavy horses. Percherons were his favorites. His wife said the Perchies were good for his temper because he was unable to impress them with it. Since he was really into the drafts.. showing, training etc... he thought a nice team of Haflingers would be a great idea. The team was a pair of nice looking little mares. Well broke and great at both shows and parades.

Now back in the day when he would lose his temper the Paints would simply and quickly submit to his will. As I said before the big Heavies would pretty much ignore it. The Haflinger women on the other hand had a lesson to teach. As the story goes, according to my friends wife, he was working them along the edge of his field one day hitched to the work wagon. The ponies were in fine fettle and not QUITE working as the team he wished. He decided to lose his temper with the gals. First he gave them both a hard yank in the mouth while cussing at them and then followed it up with a switching from the driving whip. My friends wife says they were stopped and he was cussing them - next thing she saw is one gave the other a look and my hot tempered friend was then given the ride of his life! Both mares, now working as a PERFECT team, bolted around the field several times dragging the work wagon behind like a runaway train! Then they took a little detour down a ditch and through the WOODS!!
No amount of cussing was stopping that little lesson! Finally they cut a sharp corner and dumped the guy then immediately slowed to a trot and came over to his wife with a big grin on each pony face!! He sold them shortly after that cursing ponies all the way. Never under estimate a pony.

 

[Beekissed]

GREAT story! Yep, I've heard good things about them and also that they do well pulling heavy loads when necessary.

 

[Farmfresh]

They have a lot of weight behind them. Most Haflingers weigh in at around 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. As much or more than a large horse. Figure a working load at nearly 2,000 pounds with a good wagon and that is a LOT of horse power in a little package.

 

[Farmfresh]

Even our little 36 inch Shetland pony was a pulling machine. We used her to pull stumps out in an old cherry orchard.

When a horse or pony understands HOW to pull they really do a lot of the work all by themselves. The little Shetland Dapper proved that point well. When hooked to the stump she would first pull on direction then another until she "felt" the weakest point. Then she would get down in the collar, almost on her knees and rock it. Hit and rest. Hit and rest. Hit and rest. Just like we work out a fence post. Finally when she "felt" it almost loosen she would rest a bit, back up slacking the tugs and then dive into it digging for all she was worth till it popped out! When she got it she would stand there puffing and panting with the PROUDEST look on her face. So help me all I ever had to do was explain the situation, make sure all the equipment was in order and hitched firm and hold the reins!! The main thing to learn was how NOT to interfere in her work and to learn to trust her talents. BTW she weighed about 350 pounds!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I had a shetland pony was upon a time(when I was a kid),...his name was Pretty Boy. He loved to eat my PB&J sandwiches and drink ice tea and Coke from a bottle. He and I were great pals.

 

[Farmfresh]

Yes Dapper and I rode many a mile too until I got too tall for her. That was when we broke her to harness and never turned back.

She was the one that I took up a flight of concrete steps and 3/4 of the way into my Grandma Nettie's living room, using a Jolly Rancher for bait. Man did I get it trouble THAT time!!

 

[FarmerDenise]

I enjoyed those horsey stories, except now I need to add ponies to my wish list!!!! Thanks

Now I'm going to sound like my DD used to: "Can I have a pony, please, pretty please?"