Arizona in the Saddle ISSUE #2 DECEMBER | Page 17

“Another stallion I just recently got is Circle S Bright Impression. He’s a very small frame which is a pinto pattern. There are not a whole lot of frames in minis. While Image is a grulla, he is also a frame but he doesn‘t have a pinto pattern visible, except a little bit of white on his belly. He is really tiny, and has really good bloodlines.” According to Jessica, miniature stallions are far more mellow than horsesized stallions. This is fortunate, considering she has eight of them, although two are very young and one is retired. The Zambonis also have three miniature donkeys: a jack and two jennies, and of course one jenny is spotted. They haven’t bred any miniature mules yet, but want to sometime in the future. CheyAut Ranch is not limited to miniatures. They have mostly large ponies, like a spotted saddle horse, a Norwegian Fjord, the only two Fell ponies in the state, and some crossbreeds. But she also has a Clydesdale. “Funny thing about my Clydesdale. I traded my smallest miniature horse for her. The lady lived in Vegas and bred Clydesdales. She moved to Canada recently and is gonna start breeding them again. She really liked this really tiny miniature horse I had. Her husband at the time (now her ex-husband) wouldn’t let her buy a miniature, thinking it’s pointless to spend money on a miniature. She asked if I would trade for one of her two Clydesdale foals that she had. Even though they’re really big and I’m really small, Clydesdales are cool so I took the trade, a little filly who is now two years old.” The Zambonis also breed dogs, specifically miniature Australian Shepherds, and compete in agility events with them. Jessica says, “I have one that I use to help herd the horses or the sheep, but our main thing is agility competitions.” A lot of their puppies are bought by owners who never did agility before but decided to try after buying a Zamboni puppy. She keeps back a lot of puppies that she wants to do agility with, and right now has three in class. Craig is not only a talented horseman and dog breeder, but is an artist as well. His artwork has graced club t-shirts, and his sense of humor is obvious in cartoons that he’s done. By: Vicki Szaszvari