A letter from our Founding Director ~

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF REAL MAGIC, the world of small ponies and small children!

We provide disabled children with a UK type Shetland Pony to love and care for, completely without charge and we are the only organization of its kind in the world. There are riding centers and organizations dedicated to assisting children to learn to ride or drive a horse or pony in harness, but nothing has been done for the very small child with special needs that needs a smaller mount, or for a child in need of an equine companion of small stature.

Will you join us and make a difference in the lives of the children in YOUR community?

Will you offer a caring heart, your energy and time to this worthwhile project?

Will you make a financial contribution to us so that we can provide more disabled children with a very special “best friend”?

Would you like to become a Volunteer Breeder? Would you teach a child in a wheel chair how to harness a pony and go driving? Would you like to be a hugger and brusher of for 16" short Shetland foals?

When you see a child smile and hug a small, hairy pony you will not have to wonder weather the work we do is important. Our ponies CHANGE children's lives. And we also know that working in our program, being part of the PERSONAL PONIES family, also changes the lives of those who help.

Please contact your State Director today. Meet us. Meet our kids and our ponies. If you choose to join us, you will know you are doing important and worthwhile work. You will know that offering your financial assistance , your energy, your time and your heart is what Ralph Waldo Emerson meant when he said that success in life is “to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.”

PERSONAL PONIES NEEDS YOU! I hope we will hear from you soon...

A little about me ~

I am Marianne Alexander, Founder and Executive Director of PERSONAL PONIES, and I have the best job in the world!

I am writing this message from our family farm in upstate New York. I raised six children here, bred Connemara ponies and Irish Sport Horses for more than thirty years, and now I am having the time of my life “raising” PERSONAL PONIES.

When I bought my first UK Shetlands, Casey and Cupcake, I never dreamed I would spend my retirement working harder than I ever worked before—and loving every minute of it!

How PERSONAL PONIES began...

When I first bought Casey and Cupcake, I didn't know exactly what I would do with these tiny equines, but I was captivated by their exceptionally kind and gentle dispositions.

I was often amazed at the way they responded to my grandchildren and other children who visited the farm. They seemed to have a special sensitivity—and the children adored them!

Both Casey and Cupcake (shown here in 1990) were registered as Miniature Horses, an American breed, when I bought them. But when I began to trace their bloodlines, I discovered that they though they were registered as Miniature Horses, Casey and Cupcake were descendants of UK Shetlands imported to America from the Lord of Londonderry in 1884!

This discovery piqued my curiosity, and my husband and I made a trip to England, Ireland, and Scotland to see the Shetland breed in its homeland hills, to meet with Shetland breeders, and to study the original stud books in depth. We were received graciously by many, and I had the good fortune to visit with breeders who offered me first-hand knowledge about a breed that is barely known here in the US.

By the end of this trip, I KNEW I would breed UK Shetlands and GIVE them to children who needed something special in their lives to love and care for, the equine version of the Velveteen Rabbit ........

How far we've come...

Since these humble beginnings, PERSONAL PONIES has become an international organization. We have placed hundreds of ponies with the families of children with special needs, and scores of volunteers in almost every state serve in our volunteer program as breeders, sponsors and promoters. We now have 55 breeding farms, 65 stallions standing at stud, about 200 breeding mares, and more than 1000 registered ponies. Yet with all this growth, we have hundreds of children waiting for ponies, and the list grows daily.

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