This
is Jet. Most people think that with horses what you see is what you get,
and that they are dangerous and temperamental. And meeting Jet would never
change anyone's mind on that. The fell pony side if him definitely causes the
fuzziness you see in his close-up. He has his summer coat now, as you see
which is not as cute but he's far easier to clean! He is classed as a pony,
he's now standing at 14hh (he had a very late growth spurt last year) he
clearly thinks he's bigger though.
In the field he's the boss, even if he is one of the smaller horses there,
he'll always chase the others away and throw out the occasional kick-
especially if food is involved, he thinks that's the best motive. All the
other horse owners on the yard complain because they can't get to their horse
because Jet always chases them away. Other common misbehaviors have been; him
escaping from his stable for any bucket of food left out and succeeding in
scaring any of the horses that are tied up, ripping people's hay bales when
no one's looking, squishing people who come into his stable against the wall,
throwing a massive strop when he can't do what he wants, running off as soon
as you turn your back and dragging people through the field when he's on a
rope, because he wants a chunk of grass.
From all this you can tell he's far from perfect, and what people would think
a typical horse is like.
But underneath all of that he's as soft as his fluffy coat. The real Jet is
scared of water; and birds and puppies and plastic bags and mice and the
feeling of rain and the sound of velcro and children on bikes and footballs.
But mostly he's scared of being abandoned. Before I bought Jet, his last
owner would forget about him and her other horse. He'd wait for her in his
stable at night with no food and he'd cry for her at the gate, but she
wouldn't come. I paid her so I could come and look after him.
When I bought him he had no muscles and looked half his age because he had
hardly grown. Now I'm proud of how much he's changed, and how well he can be
ridden. And when he squishes his nose into my stomach and dozes off, I
couldn't care less if he's grumpy and naughty with other people, because I
know he loves me, and I love him ten million times as much.
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