The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,558 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,822 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
For this week’s Garden Gate/Horse Dreams Intermediate Level Merit Badge, I delved into and researched one of my favorite animals: horses.
I must admit, my knowledge of horses didn’t run deep up to this particular point. Oh, I could categorize them, all right:
Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash
Applejack
Fluttershy
Twilight Twinkle
Rosedust
Sea Shimmer
etc.
But … turns out there are more to horses than the oh-so-majestic My Little Pony. Hey, gotta cut this farmgirl newbie some slack: I spent half my life in a toy store, you know.
Anyway, I lugged home a stack of library books the size of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, each and every one regaling the merits of equestrians and their noble steeds. To earn my Intermediate Level Badge, I only had to pick one.
Just one.
But that’s like picking your favorite child! (Which I totally was, right, Mom?)
I had to narrow down my choices, but how? While I was pondering over the intimidating list of my new four-legged friends, I dribbled a small bit of yellow mustard from my pita sandwich on the image of a golden Palomino, effectively highlighting it, you could say. I took it as a sign.
The Palomino would be the source of all my horse knowledge from here on out. I polished off my pita, took a napkin to the mustard-hued page, and began to learn about everyone’s favorite blonde, the grand and splendid and delightfully pretty Palomino.
Incidentally, Applejack, I do believe, was a Palomino. She was a good friend; remind me to ring her up soon. She’ll be impressed with all my Palomino facts.
Like:
No one knows for sure how old the Palomino color is, or where it originated from, but it’s mostly believed Queen Isabella of Spain is responsible for bringing them to America since they were her personal favorites. Thanks, Izzy!
Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek mythology, was a Palomino.
So was Mr. Ed (of course, of course).
So was Mr. Rogers’ horse, Trigger (and Trigger, Jr.).
In order to be registered on the Palomino Horse Breeders of America list, your Palomino must be as close as possible to the “color of a newly minted U.S. coin” and have a white or silver mane and tail. No brunettes or strawberry blondes, I’m afraid.
A Palomino is not a breed, it’s a color. Palominos can be many different breeds, actually: American Quarter Horses, Arabians, Morgans, Missouri Fox Trotters, Thoroughbreds, Tennessee Walking Horses, Morabs, Quarabs, Paint Horses, and even some solid-colored Appaloosas (that one surprised me, I confess). Applejack was a Hasbro. Haha! Get it?
Sorry. Back to research.
I fell in love with the adorable and spunky Palomino.
This badge did nothing for the little girl inside me who really, really, REALLY wants a pony.
I can see me now … hair blowing in the breeze as I ride through the meadow on the back of my Palomino … I shall name her Buttercup.
We’ll find one another someday. You can’t stop destiny. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can find Applejack’s phone number.
When I was a very young girl, Palomino horses were the epitome of beautiful and perfect. Like you mentioned, Roy Rogers had Trigger and Mr. Ed was on every Sunday night at 6:00pm. What was not to love about Palominos? As I grew up and did have the opportunity to learn to ride, my biggest loves were a dappled bay and a grey. Lessons were learned, risks were taken, new heights were jumped, and first Fox Hunts were ridden on these two colors. It was the bay and the grey horses that saw me through my teens and first year of college. They were the ones who raised yet another horse crazy young girl!