Pony Mares on Parade

March has been the month of the pony mares for us. Since finding Timeslip back on March 9, we've found four more high-stat pony mares! Unlike Timeslip, though, all four of them have been marking-less, and none have had the Pepsi-levitating-above-the-saddle issue.

Pony mare #1, Tempest, has a lovely dun coat typical of fjord highlands wilds. Her delicate legs and tiny hooves are not so typical.

She's not very speedy and doesn't have great stamina, but otherwise she's a pretty nice pony. Unfortunately, she is so petite that Pepsi seems too big. (What else is new?) Her short neck and tiny hooves do not help matters.

Pony mare #2 was hanging out on a wonderland beach. I personally find her the cutest of the four: she seems the most pleasantly proportioned, and I love the contrast of her thick, pale mane and tail against her dark body.

Interestingly, even though Crossroad is smaller than Tempest, Pepsi doesn't seem quite as big on her. I guess she must have a bigger barrel? Or maybe the thicker legs help?

She also paces!

Pony mare #3 is a dunalino (such a fun color name!) and also hails from the wonderland biome. Despite her small size, I feel like she has the most horse-like proportions of the four. Her name also seems appropriate, since she's golden and has a somewhat noble look.

She has the highest genetic stat total of all 3 ponies, but sadly, she is too small to ride.

She's the slowest of the mares and has the least desirable personality, so she didn't stick around long. 

Finally, pony mare #4 is a cool cremello from a fall forest riverbank:

She's the fastest of the four and has the most desirable personality overall.

I think Pepsi looks the least awkward on her since she's the largest, but we're not wild about the pony's head and neck carriage:

Hmm, maybe she wishes she was a wonderland wild?

We're pretty sure we're keeping "Bijoux," the lone stallion we've latched onto in March, but we still don't know who, if any, we should keep of these four mares. It may come down to a vote? But if Lily picks "none" and the rest of us pick different ponies, not sure that would work either...

This is going to be a tough one! I will leave you with this screenshot of a laughably tiny patch of mediterranean biome.

Dream Big, Zonko

Well, the foal height predictor aimed a little high, but at least Nightingale made it to 13 hands! She did not get that much of her mom's bulk or any of her feathering, but she's still extremely cute. (How could she not be with a dad like Toby?)

Back on Feb. 25, we found our first mammoth donkey in the dark forest near our ranch.

We're very tempted to keep him because of his hugeness, interesting left-side spots, and bravery, but sadly, he turns like a barge. (He has the second slowest turning speed of any wild we've ever caught!) We're already pushing it by wanting to add 3 other Feb. equines: Driftwood (formerly Dixie Delight) the jumper, Nightingale the mule, and Waffle the patchily sooty mare, so I don't think his odds of staying are very good.

While out exploring south of our ranch, we found another cool grey and white wild, our third wild ever with lacing:

We were tempted to keep her too, but alas, she was ornery.

It seemed especially appropriate to find Sensational and Dandy at the end of winter: both remind us of melting snow and ice. We had our first 60-degree day since fall last Tuesday, and it was awesome. Only tiny remnants of the largest snow piles remain now. Even though more cold and snow/rain is coming next week, we have hope that spring is coming soon!

The horses we've found since then have not been as seasonally appropriate or exciting in terms of their coat coloring, but they've been even more tempting to keep.

Meet Timeslip, a petite buckskin mare with cool markings and an impressive genetic stat total:

Her performance metrics are not so great. Here personality isn't ideal either, though there are no traits extreme enough to cause major riding problems.

Pepsi's quite big on her too. When you view them from the front or back, Pepsi also seems to sit awkwardly high in the saddle, with an obvious gap of daylight between Pepsi and saddle. *Sighs.* If only we could shrink Pepsi!

Meet Bijoux and his exceptionally long legs:

He doesn't have any white markings, but he does have very distinct dapples.

Those long legs make him quite speedy, and he's not a bad jumper either. Like Timeslip, he also doesn't have any personality traits far left enough to cause issues under saddle.

Wow, I think he's the most tempting yet. <3 Even though the silhouette is quite different, he reminds me of Topi.

Finally, even though it's not Bethany's turn to post, she had an HI3-themed dream last night that she wanted me to share. In her dream, Pepsi and Zonko were entered in a show jumping competition with ridiculously high fences. Like in HI3, multiple players could be and were on the course at once, so it was a bit chaotic. She watched in third person as several tall buckskin and light bay warmblood-type horses took the course. At their rear was beefy little Zonko, and he was miraculously clearing all of the fences, which were way taller than he was. (Well, Zonko's original name was The Flying Wonder...) Then the competition had ended, and an announcer announced Zonko as the winner, sounding confused and asking if "Zonko" was really all of his name. (Apparently the other entrants had long, fancy names.) Now in first person, Bethany went to lead Zonko out onto the course to accept the ribbon, but Zonko was... a fat smoke gray cat. She carried him out onto the course as he purred contentedly in her arms and people applauded. Even in the dream she was a bit confused. But still happy. XD I guess since humans can occasionally shape shift on the game, it's not such a stretch, ha ha.