Little pony draws attention, admirers

Mouse the mini-pony made his grand debut into the world in the wee early hours of March 24, plopping onto the rolling green pasture next to his proud and exhausted mother, Sparkles.

“He’s a silly little thing,” Mouse’s owner Deanie Deal said. “He runs and bucks, and he’s just a couple days old.”

Deal said she was well aware that Sparkles was about to pop. She looked out into the field one morning and suddenly, there was Mouse.

Standing at only 15 inches tall, the mini-pony is a sight to behold. With deep brown eyes and a coat the color of chocolate, Mouse has a personality 10 times his size.

It seems no person is a stranger to the personable little pony. In his first week of life, Mouse accumulated a pretty hefty fan-base. People have been traveling across town just to visit Pilot Point’s sweet new friend, making surprise appearances, taking pictures and even bringing along treats.

It’s been fun to see how excited Mouse makes his visitors, Deal said. The pony breeder has been working with horses in some way, shape or form since she was 2.

“It’s been a lifelong thing,” Deal said. “My whole family has had horses forever.”

When Deal was a child, her dad had two horses named Chalk and Ba, which he would hook up to a plow. Deal would sit up on the horses and plow with her father. Oftentimes, Deal said, she’d fall asleep while riding and plowing.

Unfortunately for Deal, there came a time when her family no longer needed the horses to plow the garden, so the family sold them. Deal was distraught. She had never been without a horse.

“At that time, I was 11,” Deal said. “And I saved Coke bottles. They would give you a half-a-cent deposit on a Coke bottle, but it had to be clean with no chips. I collected those bottles and payed $25 for my own pony. Her name was Brownie, and I rode that horse until my feet were dragging the ground.”

Eventually Deal outgrew Brownie, and her father helped her find a full-size horse to ride.

Deal spent the next several decades of her life riding, until two years ago, when she decided to take a step back from horses and begin breeding miniature ponies.

“They’re much more like having a dog,” Deal said. “They’re easier to take care of in a lot of ways, less likely to do a lot of damage if they kick you, … but I can’t ride them. I miss the riding part, to some degree. But that’s OK.”

Right now, Deal has a handful of A-Minis under her wing. Ponies under 34-inches tall classify as A-Minis, Deal said, and Mouse comes from two of them. Although Sparkles is one of the tallest ponies in the bunch, Mouse’s father, Action-Jackson, never stood a centimeter over 30 inches.

Action-Jackson died in August, seven months before Mouse was born. In many ways, it seems Mouse inherited his father’s personality, Deal said. Action-Jackson used to dress up as a reindeer during Christmas season and pull a little buggy, much to the delight of the kids.

Because Mouse will be unable to breed with the majority of Deal’s stock, she is putting the little guy up for sale. While he’s weening, Mouse will spend his days relaxing in Deal’s pastures on St. Charles Avenue and putting on a show for people who swing by to visit. The young star seems to like the attention, Deal said.