Marlyn Domino is a ten year old Exmoor gelding who's had quite the exciting life. We've been to the Kentucky Horse Park for the Rare Breeds Expo, to Dressage at Devon for the Mountain and Moorlands pony classes, to Cornell University for another rare breed demonstration. We've ridden in the Memorial Day Parade here in my town in Upstate New York, we've shown all around the area, and he's handled it all with aplomb.

He is pretty much the definition of bombproof: Sane, sensible, and trusting, he'll do just about anything I ask of him, riding or driving or just hanging out together.
We've gone to Level One in dressage, and right now he's learning to jump with the little girl who's half-leasing him.

A dear friend of mine had a terrible accident last year. The horse she was grooming on the crossties spooked and reared up, slammed her into the wall, and then came down on top of her. She was badly shaken and bruised, and didn't go back into the barn for a few months afterwards. I finally coaxed her in and promised her that Domino would be the perfect pony for her to get slowly back into the swing of things.

She was trembling when she got him out of his stall and put him on the crossties. And Domino, who can sometimes be a little playful--he especially likes chewing on leadropes or crossties--seemed to sense that this was not a time to be moving around or fidgeting. He stood as still as a statue while she brushed him, never picking a foot up off the floor. Halfway through tacking him up she burst into tears, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said she'd thought she would never get to do this again, she'd been so scared. Dom, even with all the commotion, just stood still, let her hug him and lean on his neck, and didn't so much as shift his weight.

When she went to mount he stood perfectly still, and the entire ride he carried her as if she were made of glass, and never put a foot wrong.

Our Exmoors are awfully smart--sometimes almost TOO much so, I think! :) But watching him take care of my friend was amazing and wonderful, and just reinforced what I already knew:

These ponies are really something special!!

Katie McCaffery and Marlyn Domino, Syracuse, New York