Now, who would have thought? The Hackney is on the endangered equine list.

My first impression of the Hackney horse was at the Tulsa, Oklahoma fair. I was in kindergarten, and we lived only a few blocks away from the fairgrounds. My mom and dad took my sister and I to the fair and because I was a seriously horse-crazed child, they made sure that we spent some time at the horse shows.

I loved to watch the elderly ladies driving those flashy Hackney ponies around the arena. My memory is of senior woman with gray blue hair in a blue chiffon evening dress, resplendent with sequins and rhinestones sitting in a slick little rig, gloved hands holding the reins and driving whip, ice blue scarf billowing along in the wake of that Hackney's big trot.

I loved it.