Gypsies in Neponset?

NEPONSET — Roaming the hilly fields northwest of Neponset is a group of ponies that would look right at home in any old gypsy movie. Small, flashy, and with beautifully-hairy legs, the ponies are a sharp contrast to most equines seen in Bureau County.

The three horses are Gypsy Cobs, and they belong to Melanie Block and her family.

“It was around three years ago that I found these horses on the Internet,” Block said. “And I kept looking and looking and looking.”

Block said the gypsy horse was first promoted in the United States by Dennis and Cindy Thompson, who imported several horses to Florida beginning in 1996 and started a registry for the new horse. She said British Gypsies maintain no registration on their horses and rely on oral histories and the quality of the horse itself to guide them in producing this young breed.

Block said that gypsies developed this new breed out of necessity.

“Gypsies throughout history have maintained a generally colorful and mobile culture worldwide,” she said. “In Britain, these people, also known as Travelers and the Roma/Romany, built beautifully carved and decorated caravan or vardo wagons. The horses had to match the picture.”

Block said the gypsies developed a beautiful and gentle-natured horse based on the British cob type. They used stocky native ponies and crossed them with larger draft breeds such as Shires and Clydesdales, always liking the hairiest legs that would “flash” as the horse moved faster.

The ponies were valued for more than their looks. Block said the had to have an extremely calm temperament since it pulled literally all the family owned, and the wife and children co-existed in the care and use of the horse.

After all her looking, Block finally bought a 2-year-old pony named Tibbs Conghal around the first of March, which she displayed at the horse sale in Kewanee last weekend. After the sale, she bought two more ponies, both yearlings, named Truffles and Lexington.

While those are the only purebred Gypsy horses Block has, she also has two crossbred foals and an additional two on the way.

“The idea was to breed them to bring the size down,” she said. “Last year I decided to try and get some smaller ones growing because I couldn’t find any that I wanted.”

Block said her goal is to produce nice quality, small gypsy ponies.

“My favorite size is the 13-hand pony,” she said.

Block said size is what makes an animal either a horse or a pony. Animals less than 14-hands, or 56 inches tall at the withers, are considered ponies, while the taller animals are horses.

Block said she loves the fact that the gypsy horses are bred to be very quiet and gentle, and she has hopes that someday her ponies can help pay for the education of her children, Gus, 13, and Freya, 12.

But that’s a long ways off.

“This is a hobby,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not a business yet.”

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