Ponies are known to be tricky, sly, a bit on the chubby side, and independent. What most people don’t realize is they are also very, very, very resourceful. Yes, I said resourceful. You might think that they are a little annoying, but they are being resourceful in finding ways to annoy you. There’s a difference. The difference is they are not just blindly refusing that jump, but they find a reason to refuse that jump, whether it’s the boogie-man-that-only-ponies-can-see or just a paper bag that they thought was a life threatening monster. They also like to escape from people, and places when they feel like it.  If Punky doesn’t want to be ridden he hides on the other side of the big horses and also he has escaped and run to the neighbor’s yard because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  Ponies have been resourceful ever since they came to this planet. How else would they of survived the rocky mountain slopes of Scotland, or the steppes of Hungary?

Boy, Norman Thelwell knew what he was dealing with huh? (see above photo)

Ponies have also been known to be surefooted. This has played into the survival of the Shetland, and Welsh ponies that come from Ireland, where the typical terrain is rocky and mountainous. This trait was also helpful for what they were later used in; coal mining. They were used in coal mining because they knew whether or not a place was safe for living beings because they could sense the CO₂ and hear beams cracking, and also their ability to pull twice their own weight. This helped them become more popular than the common donkey. Many miners in the late 19th century said they owed their lives to the quick thinking of the pony who could often tell if something going to give way and collapse or if there was a methane leak that would lead to an explosion.

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Ponies have also been able to subsist on little food. When the ponies landed on Chincoteague there was hardly any grass for them to eat. Punky wears a muzzle because he is such an “easy keeper”.  Although Punky doesn’t get any grain, he waits outside the stalls and when they are clear, (they open up to the pasture), Punky rushes in to snap up any little pieces of grain left on the ground like a catfish. Punky has figured out how to trick our young horse, Sean, into getting his muzzle off, see pictures below. Their  resourcefulness is evident when you see the Sean playing with the muzzle and the pony eating the grass. Ponies have also developed an idea over the years that  humans equal food. They have developed a way to adapt to the different circumstances and so have humans. Ponies living in less than harsh conditions, (lush pastures), are prone to many things; hence the muzzle.  Punky still doesn’t want to wear his even though it helps him from getting even fatter or having laminitis.

Remember, don’t ever think you are smarter than your average pony!

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