You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but you can teach a new pony old tricks. Just ask Yorba Linda resident Barbara Brown and her miniature pony, Barbie. Acquired from an estate sale several years ago, Brown has taught Barbie to perform tricks like posing on a pedestal, counting with her hoof and “singing” into a microphone among other activities.
“I trained her myself,” says Brown, who has kept horses ever since she was a little girl. “It’s a challenge to teach additional tricks, but all of her tricks are [based on] normal behaviors,” she explains. “You just have to use positive reinforcement, like a treat. “
And Barbie’s tricks serve a greater purpose. As a registered member of international animal therapy organization The Delta Society, she visits schools, group homes and youth programs, performing her tricks and spreading joy.
“Her job is to provide smiles for those who are not able to enjoy their own pets,” Brown says of her black-and-white pinto.
And smiles come easy, even for Barbie, who can smile, teeth and all, on command. Normally reserved for more commonplace animals like dogs and cats, and even a few rabbits, Barbie is one of the few miniature horses to pass The Delta Society’s rigorous screening test.
“They have to demonstrate how safe they would be,” Brown says.
Originally bred in Europe as pets of the upper class, miniature pintos come from a long line of bringing joy. They were later brought over to North America to work in coal mines, since despite what their size might indicate, they are able to carry up to 40 pounds on their back as well as pull two good-sized adults. Barbie is no exception and competes in obstacle course competitions for purebreds, finishing in the top 10 for the past 10 years. But that isn’t the best part, Barbara says.
“The best part is sharing her with people who haven’t learned to appreciate animals or who live, either permanently or temporarily, where they are apart from animals,” she says.
And for Barbie, maybe the best part is the treats.
“Sometimes in the morning when I come out here, she does all her tricks in her pen at once,” Brown says, laughing. “Or if I leave the box out here overnight,” she says of the pedestal Barbie poses on in her act, “she will step up on it and look up thinking a treat might drop out of the sky.”
