CHICO
½ Welsh pony, ½ quarter horse gelding, Pony Club hunter/jumper English pony prospect
13.1 hands
Foaled: Spring 2003
Bay Gelding, three white feet
PRICE: $4,500
This is a kid’s pony deluxe. Chico is so much fun to be around, your child will never forget what a thrill it was to learn to ride on Chico. He’s a medium pony, 13.1 hands, out of a Welsh pony mare and a quarter horse stallion. Chico was raised and broke to ride by a 10-year-old girl.
Chico is cuter than cute, but he’s also very sweet and very gentle. He loves people and will find you wherever you are in the pasture, but he’s also respectful. He won’t nip and bite and get in your face.
Every now and then in the outfitting business, you get in a pinch for enough good broke kids’ horses. Once we had a huge youth group book us for 85 kids. We were out of horses! My son Jake had been riding Chico, so we threw a saddle on him and put Chico in the dude string with a 10-year-old boy on his back. Chico was two years old at the time.
Jake and Reed Hubbell, our sons, have been riding Chico over the summer, and they put a lot of miles on him. He’s done a bunch of trail rides in the high country, and NOTHING spooks him. He’s been in the mountains for two years, swimming the river every day. In fact, once we thought we’d have to catch him half a mile down the river. He was trying to keep up with the big horses as we rounded them up. He tried to swim the river in flood stage and almost got swept downstream. Only his nose and ears were showing! He’s got a huge heart and lots of try. Chico’s conformation is very solid, and he has a nice smooth trot and canter. His feet are excellent, and he’s absolutely sound.
Now, as he’s coming four years old, we’ll put him in training with Lindsay Alvarez of Grand Junction. Lindsay is a hot trainer for hunter-jumper horses, and Chico will be her next Pony Club project. He will be a sure-fire winner in the show ring. You can buy him now at a low price and do your own hunter/jumper Pony Club training, or you can wait a season until Lindsay finishes him, but the price will be a lot higher!
