Meet our horses

Hi, I am Jack, a miniature donkey. I have been living with horses much bigger than me all my life and it has not always been fun. When you look closely at me you can see that I have only one eye. That is because once a real mean horse kicked me in the head and made me lose my eye. That hurt, and it can be dangerous because now I cannot see what is happening on my right side. I am glad there are no mountain lions here in Kentucky, because I wouldn’t be able to see it if one would sneak out of the bushes to kill me. However, my buddies here at Sycamore Pond Horse Center are usually very nice to me, particularly Fancy. She is my best friend, and she will tell you the story of our friendship.

Hi, I am Fancy, seen here with my friend Jack. My real name is Fancy Prima Donna, and that is more fitting. I am a registered American Quarter Horse and I am 27 years old. That is pretty old for a horse but I think I am still in pretty good shape. When it comes to racing across the pasture with the other horses I am as fast as the young ones (Michael calls me his rocket-propelled grenade). I first met Jack in 2001 when I moved to a big ranch in the mountains in southern California where he was living with some other horses. He started following me around the pasture and I felt I needed to protect him because he was so small. Two years later I moved to a new barn and Jack was left behind. After the big fire, which Max will tell you about, Michael and Christiane decided to move to Kentucky and start the Sycamore Pond Horse Center, where we have been since 2004. I didn’t believe my eyes when one day three years after Jack and I were separated a horse trailer pulls up next to the pasture and who walks out of it? Jack! I sure couldn’t believe it! We recognized each other immediately and were so excited and happy to see each other. He had also moved to Kentucky, but his owners decided to move back to California and gave Jack to Michael and Christiane. Now Jack and me and Chance are always hanging out together just as in the old days in California.

 Hi, I am Max. My real name is Maximilian and some people call me Max-a-Million. I am a eleven year old Appendix Quarter Horse, that is a mix of a quarter horse and a thoroughbred horse. I am the boss of the small herd here at Sycamore Pond Horse Center. I have been with Sundance, Chance and Fancy for four years now and, besides moving from California to Kentucky, our biggest adventure was the big fire in 2003 when hundreds of thousands of acres burned in southern California. At first the fire didn’t seem to move in our direction, but then after three days the wind changed and it cametowards us. We first were evacuated to another place about five miles away, but then the smoke got so bad that we hardly could breathe anymore. Therefore we were evacuated again all the way out into the Anza Borrego desert. There were a lot of horses on that ranch, many had been evacuated from the fire just like us. When horses that don’t know each other are put together in one space they frequently start fighting to determine who is the boss, and that is what started happening there too. However, Sundance, Chance, Fancy and I always stayed close together so nobody dared to attack us. The people called us the Four Marauders! It felt really good having such close friends at a time of uncertainty and danger.

Hi, I am Moritz, and I am an ten year old Quarter Horse mix. One of my grandparents probably was a draft horse, that is why I am a little chubby. Theoretically I shouldn’t even be alive, because I was a pregnant mare urine (or PMU) foal. Let me explain: at some horse farms they breed mares to get them pregnant, but they are not interested in the foals. Rather, they collect urine from the pregnant mares and isolate from the urine certain chemicals that can be used as medicines. When the foals are born they are usually killed, and that was supposed to happen to me too. However, somebody – and I don’t remember who – seems to have liked me and saved my life. I was brought up with a bottle until I was old enough to eat real food, that is why I like people as much as I like horses. When I was three years old some people bought me for their little daughter to learn riding, but she was too small to ride a horse like me. Soon she lost interest and started neglecting me. That was when Christiane found me and brought me to Sycamore Pond Horse Center. I love kids and am having fun with all the activities I am involved in here – well, most of them.

Hi, I am Sundance. I am an 13 year old registered American Quarter Horse and my registered name is Call Me Doc Too. That is because my father, grandfather and great grandfather all had names containing Doc, but I like Sundance (or Sunny) much better. I have to admit that I am sometimes a bit nervous when I am being worked, particularly when I don’t really know what is expected of me. My previous owner was pretty ambitious and wanted to train me to be a fancy show horse. She actually hired a trainer to train me in trail riding, not trail riding out in the woods but the kind where you have to navigate a complicated obstacle course in the riding arena. I found that difficult because you have to concentrate very much that you don’t touch or throw over any of the obstacles – I am not good at that because I am easily distracted. I have to admit, though, that I sometimes like to fool people by pretending that I don’t know what they are asking of me, just to assure myself that I can outsmart them (Call Me Doc!). I knew that the trainer didn’t like it when I made mistakes, and that made me even more nervous and I made more mistakes. Finally they had enough of me and just got rid of me. Luckily Christiane and Michael liked me and I have been with them for five years. Now we just do some dressage riding in the arena and ride around the pond. Christiane sometimes does Parelli style Natural Horsemanship with me and the other guys. And I really like to be in the therapeutic riding program. I think I am doing a pretty good job, concentrating on the needs of the rider and trying to be really calm and not nervous.

Hi, my name is HokusPokus. That’s right, although everyone calls me Hoki. I am a 4-year old Hanovarian, turning 5 in 2009. Christiane’s trainer heard about me when I was still in Germany. It was quite an adventure to make the trip to the US. First I was shipped from northern Germany to Amsterdam and then I flew in an airplane from Amsterdam to New York. There I had to spend 48 hours in quarantine until it was time to continue my journey to Kentucky. A trip like this is stressful for horses and I lost a lot of weight. But the nurturing environment here at Sycamore Pond Horse Center helped me gain it back soon. I love it here. The herd accepted me right away. I guess it helped that I am not a fighter type. I like to get along with everybody and have peace around me. You might wonder why Christiane and Michael decided to buy an expensive horse like me in Germany? Since Christiane is getting dressage lessons from her trainer, and horses like me are bred for that purpose, it simply made sense for them to purchase me. My father was His Highness, a very famous dressage horse. He had an accident and had to be put down last year. Now I am in training with Christiane and her trainer. I am working almost every day. It’s easy for me and I love learning new things almost every day. I am so glad I came.