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Remember watching some loggers in Maine who used horses instead of skidders. Pretty cool.

Miles one of the memories of my dad. Uncle had a shetland corraled at his place. My dad was feeding shetland when uncle was gone. Shetland would wait until my dad went to put the hay in the feed box with his back turned, and shetland would bite him on the back. Solution? My dad waited for the shetland to reach over, then real quick gave him a left hook in the nose. After that, he said shetland would go to the other end of the corral.

Yes, typically shetlands are just kid spoiled.

I have owned several. And known several more that friends owned as kids. We had a little petite shetland mare for my son and daughter when they were five and six.

My son was a year older and quite aggresive. He could get on that little horse and do anything he wanted. She was a little sweetheart.

My five year old daughter would get on the pony and the mare would immediately try to rub her off on a tree. Or she would just lie down with Valarie in the saddle. Valarie hated that horse. But it was just a matter of what the horse was allowed to get away with.

Most people buy a shetland and give it to a kid, who has no idea how to train it. So the horse is never properly educated.

That was true in the case of this mare we bought. She was about twelve years old when we got her. And she already knew how to tell who she could screw around with.

Some horses are just like some people. They are naturally lazy and will put forth no more effort than they absolutely have to. They will pull any trick to get out of work.

And some love the feel of effort and fresh air in their lungs. Lots of horses have to be held back so they don't hurt their self by getting too hot or becoming "wind broke".

Some come running eagerly to be harnassed or saddled. And some have to be driven into a small catch pen or baited with grain, just to get a rope around their neck.

My dad and his brothers used to log on Mt. Blue in Farmington, Maine back in the 40's. They had a 2 horse system, dad would fell a tree and limb it out then hook it up to one horse who dragged it down to his brother at the landing. Then his brother would send the other horse up to my dad before unloading the log and stacking it so there was always one horse pulling and one getting a rest. The horse's would go up and down the tote road by themselves, never took off or got lost..

The biggest problem with Shetlands is that a normal sized person can't get on them to train them. Most have been semi-trained by kids who don't know how. There are some very good Shetland saddle horses out there but most are just spoiled brats. They're probably best trained by smaller experienced women who can ride them hard.

Blame it on training if you wish, but there are several pony breeds and, as far as I know, only the Shetland has a consistent reputation for being ornery. I'll stop short of saying mean, although some clearly are.