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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Sunday, March 18, 2007

it's sunday and i would ride a pony if i had one

But I don't. And ponies and horses need lots of good space and special care, which I can't give right now. But sometimes the thought of a pony ride on the beach sounds grand.

This is my lazy Sunday morning way of explaining why today I bring you the Welsh pony. I think Welsh things are fascinating; my parents told me we were a smidgen Welsh. Did you know the word penguin is Welsh? It means "head of white". Interesting article on Welsh words here.

And did you know that the shortness and hardiness of the Welsh pony enabled it to survive when Henry VIII decreed that all horses over 15 hands be wiped out? It was able to hide in terrain where Henry's agents were quite unwilling to go. The breed has Arabian blood, too, which they must have gotten from the Arabs that acompanied the Roman forces. Someone at Yahoo Answers has quite a bit of good information on Welsh ponies, here (and Austrian Haflingers, if you are Germanically inclined).

The official website of the Welsh Pony and Cob Society of America Inc. has great photos, of course.

Hwyl and iechyd da! (Cheers and good health!)

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