Star Pony

This is my Star pony. Not the greatest photo but you can see her star, and some of the spots that she gets in the summer. In the summer she is an appaloosa. In the winter all the spots go away except the star and she looks like an ordinary sorrel. Star was only a yearling when I got her so I expected her to grow up to be a horse instead of a pony. She is now 8 years old and only reached about 13 and a half hands. Horses are measured in 'hands', 1 hand being equal to 4 inches. They are measured from the ground up to their withers, or the boney area where the neck connects to their back. A horse should be over 14 hands, and ponies are under 14 hands. Measurements in hands were started when there were no tape measures so men would use their hand to stair step up the height of the horse to figure out how tall it was. Mustangs and appy's are known for being stubborn and a bit difficult to train. Not that they are really any worse than other breeds of horses but Star does seem to be related to a mule or donkey as for as being stubborn sometimes. She is smart but if she can get out of doing work by pretending she doesn't know what I want her do to, she will. But she loves to be groomed. I guess she would stand all day and let you brush her, clean her hooves, braid her mane and tail or just be usefull if you need a big, red shoulder to cry on.