About Hart's Island Pony Ranch
Hart's Island Pony Ranch is located 20 minutes northeast of Rochester, Minnesota and was established in the winter of 2009. We are dedicated to promoting and bringing quality Chincoteague ponies to the Midwest. We breed, train our own herd, participate in local shows, sell foals, and offer trained ponies for sale from time to time.
Our breeding program focuses on quality over quantity, and we carefully select our stallion and mare combinations so that the resulting foals will reflect the breed standards. Our herd consists of both traditional and sport Chincoteague body types and we have our entire breeding herd DNA tested for health, color, and ancestry in order to further the breed. When we look for breeding stock, we first consider conformation and temperament, we want our foals to be well put together and easy to train so they will excel in all areas. Additionally, we breed with size in mind and try to produce foals that will mature to at minimum 14 hands, this gives adults a greater opportunity to enjoy the breed. Finally, we are proud to continue the historic "Misty" and "Surfer Dude" bloodlines within our herd and strive to stamp each of our foals with the iconic pinto patterns the breed is known for.
Our training program is based on natural horsemanship techniques and we emphasis adjusting each training session to the individual pony. We believe that a good foundation is pivotal to a pony's future success and we take the time to teach quality ground manners to each member of our herd to ensure that they are easy for anyone to handle.
We have shown our ponies in western, english, showmanship, trail, gaming, in-hand jumping, in-hand trail, halter, liberty, training classes, 4-h, costume classes, you name it and they can do it!
Our breeding program focuses on quality over quantity, and we carefully select our stallion and mare combinations so that the resulting foals will reflect the breed standards. Our herd consists of both traditional and sport Chincoteague body types and we have our entire breeding herd DNA tested for health, color, and ancestry in order to further the breed. When we look for breeding stock, we first consider conformation and temperament, we want our foals to be well put together and easy to train so they will excel in all areas. Additionally, we breed with size in mind and try to produce foals that will mature to at minimum 14 hands, this gives adults a greater opportunity to enjoy the breed. Finally, we are proud to continue the historic "Misty" and "Surfer Dude" bloodlines within our herd and strive to stamp each of our foals with the iconic pinto patterns the breed is known for.
Our training program is based on natural horsemanship techniques and we emphasis adjusting each training session to the individual pony. We believe that a good foundation is pivotal to a pony's future success and we take the time to teach quality ground manners to each member of our herd to ensure that they are easy for anyone to handle.
We have shown our ponies in western, english, showmanship, trail, gaming, in-hand jumping, in-hand trail, halter, liberty, training classes, 4-h, costume classes, you name it and they can do it!
About the Owner
Hi there, thanks for taking the time to learn more about me and my ponies! My name is Rebekah and I have loved horses for as long as I can remember. I started taking riding lessons and got my first horse when I was 6 years old. When people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always told them I wanted to be a horse trainer and breeder.
Like most horse crazy girls, I checked out every horse book the local library had to offer, had a never-ending collection of Breyer models, and saved every horse related thing I could find. During one of my library trips, I happened upon Marguerite Henry's book "Misty of Chincoteague." I was so captivated by the story that I prayed I would have the opportunity to own one someday. In the winter of 2009, when I was 13 years old, that prayer was answered.
At the time I was looking for my first horse to train and happened upon two green broke Chincoteague mares that were for sale in Wisconsin. On a cold winter day my dad and I drove over to meet them and within a couple of weeks we brought them home. After purchasing them we decided to look for a stallion and get into breeding Chincoteague ponies. Being that Chincoteagues are hard to come by in the Midwest, it was a challenge to find a stallion. However, we managed to find one in Arkansas and that Spring we drove down with our trailer to bring him home.
Over the years we had several foals, and I took my Chincoteagues to open horse shows, competed in 4-H, and did the breed demonstration at the Minnesota Horse Expo. Every day I worked with them I found my passion for the breed growing, as they proved to be extremely smart, athletic, and personable. So, by the time I started my first year in college, I had decided to sell the rest of our horses (we also had a few paints and a quarter horse) so I could focus exclusively on the Chincoteague pony breed.
During college a took a break from breeding and focused on gaining more horse training skills in college. In 2017, I graduated with two Associate Degrees from Ellsworth Community College, one in Equine Management and one in Equine Science. After Ellsworth I was accepted into the University of Findlay and while I was there, I got to ride reining, cutting, and ranch horses. Unfortunately, my time there was cut short as I became very sick and was eventually diagnosed with Lymes disease.
From 2018 through most of 2020 I was so sick from Lyme I couldn't ride or do much with my herd of ponies. In 2020-2021, I finally started to recover and got back into training and breeding Chincoteagues. I quickly became aware of the need for a new Chincoteague pony registry as the previous registries were mostly inactive and I was having trouble getting one of my recently acquired mares registered. Because of my passion for the breed, I had opportunities over the years to meet/talk to breeders and owners from all across the United States and Canada. So early in 2021 I began reaching out to others in the Chincoteague pony industry and collaborating with several authorities on the Chincoteague pony breed to create the International Chincoteague Pony Association & Registry which launched on October 1, 2021. I am excited to have the opportunity to continue to promote the breed with not only the registry but also with my own herd.
If you are a fellow Chincoteague pony enthusiast or someone who wants to know more about the breed, feel free to send me a message or schedule a farm visit, I would love to meet you!
Like most horse crazy girls, I checked out every horse book the local library had to offer, had a never-ending collection of Breyer models, and saved every horse related thing I could find. During one of my library trips, I happened upon Marguerite Henry's book "Misty of Chincoteague." I was so captivated by the story that I prayed I would have the opportunity to own one someday. In the winter of 2009, when I was 13 years old, that prayer was answered.
At the time I was looking for my first horse to train and happened upon two green broke Chincoteague mares that were for sale in Wisconsin. On a cold winter day my dad and I drove over to meet them and within a couple of weeks we brought them home. After purchasing them we decided to look for a stallion and get into breeding Chincoteague ponies. Being that Chincoteagues are hard to come by in the Midwest, it was a challenge to find a stallion. However, we managed to find one in Arkansas and that Spring we drove down with our trailer to bring him home.
Over the years we had several foals, and I took my Chincoteagues to open horse shows, competed in 4-H, and did the breed demonstration at the Minnesota Horse Expo. Every day I worked with them I found my passion for the breed growing, as they proved to be extremely smart, athletic, and personable. So, by the time I started my first year in college, I had decided to sell the rest of our horses (we also had a few paints and a quarter horse) so I could focus exclusively on the Chincoteague pony breed.
During college a took a break from breeding and focused on gaining more horse training skills in college. In 2017, I graduated with two Associate Degrees from Ellsworth Community College, one in Equine Management and one in Equine Science. After Ellsworth I was accepted into the University of Findlay and while I was there, I got to ride reining, cutting, and ranch horses. Unfortunately, my time there was cut short as I became very sick and was eventually diagnosed with Lymes disease.
From 2018 through most of 2020 I was so sick from Lyme I couldn't ride or do much with my herd of ponies. In 2020-2021, I finally started to recover and got back into training and breeding Chincoteagues. I quickly became aware of the need for a new Chincoteague pony registry as the previous registries were mostly inactive and I was having trouble getting one of my recently acquired mares registered. Because of my passion for the breed, I had opportunities over the years to meet/talk to breeders and owners from all across the United States and Canada. So early in 2021 I began reaching out to others in the Chincoteague pony industry and collaborating with several authorities on the Chincoteague pony breed to create the International Chincoteague Pony Association & Registry which launched on October 1, 2021. I am excited to have the opportunity to continue to promote the breed with not only the registry but also with my own herd.
If you are a fellow Chincoteague pony enthusiast or someone who wants to know more about the breed, feel free to send me a message or schedule a farm visit, I would love to meet you!
