By JENN BRUNER
There once was a pony, who lived with his older half brother.
They were young at only 2 and 3 years old. They lived in Ontario, where they were born. Tug’s half brother was smaller than he was, as he was full Shetland. Tugs however grew taller very quickly as he was only half Shetland.
These two were wild as they came, and they must have been bored. They constantly jumped the fence. Well …. Mostly Tugs. Hugs, the older but smaller brother was almost well behaved.
One day their owner got fed up. She was mad. So mad that she took them to a local livestock auction where they would be sold to the highest bigger.
A very lucky young woman came across the pen with the two young colts in it. She climbed into the shared stall and approached the smaller pony. Hugs was curious and within minutes they were friends. Tugs however wasn’t wanting any interaction with any of the humans at that busy sale. The woman told the pony, if you convince your friend to let me touch him, I’ll buy you both. The small pony, clearly understanding his mission, walked over to his brother and stood with him a moment. The woman approached and was able to quietly pet Tug’s withers while he eyed her cautiously. That was enough and the woman fulfilled her promise and purchased both colts that day.
She overheard how they were escape artists and how it simply wasn’t worth it to build a taller fence. She hadn’t cared, she saw two lovely colts with kind eyes, clean conformation, and of course she had an eye for a pony who could jump. Even in those days, she saw that Tugs was going to be something.
Hugs and Tugs came to live with her at Fire Fly Stables. Hugs was gelded and learned to be a riding pony; later, he moved on to a new farm and was one of the main ponies in their tiny tots program. Tugsy learned to be ridden, and then started his career as a breeding stallion producing just a few sport ponies a year.
In 2023, his offspring, Edwin, competed in the sport pony star search and went all the way to the Royal.
Tugs is very respectful of fences now, but his happy place is playing with jumps in the arena. He will seek them out and make up his own courses, complete with flying lead changes. He has a very playful personality and will stick out his tongue. At the end of the night he blows raspberries at you, when all the other horses are people’d out and ready for bed. Tugsy is one of a kind and we are so happy to have our little stallion in our barn.
