Our Little Exmoor

A long quest for some Fin on Twin Rivers isle sent Uno and me to Leaf Isle the other day. As long as we were there, we went harvesting leaf piles for silk cocoons on Leaf itself as well as a few of the other leaf isles. I didn't see any wild ponies until I arrived on Petal Isle. The Exmoor Pony wasn't far from the dock, so I spotted her quite early on. Someone popped onto Petal just after I had discovered the wild - she rode up to us and area chatted something like "Ooh, a wild!"So, rather than risk losing the pony while I fumbled around to take a screenshot, I clicked "capture" immediately. Hence, there will never be a screenshot of her in the wild. Sorry, pony. 

As fate would have it, the Exmoor is another 6/6 mare. At least this time she isn't the same breed and color as an equine we already have...

Tiny ears poking out from a thick, shaggy mane, alert expression, mealy muzzle and belly... aw. She's a cutie, alright.

Under saddle. Where'd the "mealy" go?

So, do we keep her or not? We're still not sure, so we'll keep her around for the rest of June to see if any fabulous stallion comes along to make the decision easier. To be clear, it's the skewed gender ratio that's holding us back from committing, not her size. We googled Exmoor ponies and read that they aren't just for kids - they are sturdy enough to be ridden by many teens and adults as well. (The weight limit we've seen on British Exmoor Pony trekking websites is somewhere around 12 stone, which converts to186 pounds. Mom is nowhere near the cap.) We found many photos of adults on Exmoors, and here is one with a rider who looks similar in size to Mom:

This pair looks just fine to me

Exmoor Ponies are pretty cool! I may have to write a post all about the breed sometime... *the metaphorical light bulb goes on over my head.* Stay tuned!