Moments after NBC reporter Donna Barton Brothers made her first report trackside on the 2021 Breeders’ Cup, her social media accounts sprang to life. “What’s the title of that beautiful horse you’re driving right this moment?” “I need to hear extra about that beautiful pony you’re driving tonight?” “Love that massive paint you had been on for Breeders’ Cup!!” “What noticed horse did you trip right this moment to interview the winner? The horse was beautiful!” “Who’s your stunning mount?”
Lovely? He seems like a film horse. He’s a big black and white paint with draft horse feathers on his legs. He floats throughout the monitor when he trots. He has a comfortable eye and a slim, crooked blaze. Massive boned with massive hips. Along with his ears perennially up, he swings his massive head round and thoroughly observes all the things round him. Calm. Regular and seems to be smart.
He is named Kong and is a monitor pony owned by coach Kristin Mulhall. She bought him final April. “I purchase a variety of driving and saddle horses by means of gross sales. I went to Montana and acquired three. The sale had over 5 hundred head. If I see one I can pull and make a driving horse, I do. Or if I see one that may make an excellent pony, or a pleasant all-around driving horse. Then I purchase it. I do a variety of gross sales with bomb proof horses.”
Now known as Kong (in a reference to King Kong), she noticed him within the gross sales catalog. “He was good. I jumped up on him and rode him throughout the gross sales floor. He was only a good gentleman. He didn’t know learn how to eat cookies. He wasn’t spoiled. He was a cowboy’s horse.” He discovered about cookies on the trailer trip dwelling to California. Inside 48 hours, he had his first spa day and discovered about blankets.
He was a ranch and rodeo horse used as a pickup horse in bucking bull and bronco competitions. “If you see bronc riders leaping off the broncs, he was one of many horses you jumped onto.” He has labored rodeos in each the U.S. and Canada. As well as, he’s carried the flag and finished opening ceremonies. “He’s finished all the things so far as the rodeo world goes as a working horse. That was his complete life till I obtained him.”
Kong is 10 years previous. His weight has different between 1675 and 1800 kilos. She rode him all summer season at Del Mar, and he has slimmed down. “It took me a couple of week to get him spoiled. Now he’s a giant ham and loves everybody. Earlier than, he can be snorting at you whenever you walked up. Now? He’s working as much as you and checking your pockets. He’s a giant sweetheart. In case you are on his again, it doesn’t matter the place you’re at or what you inform him to do. He does it. He’s tremendous straightforward and really comfy to trip for a giant horse.”
Mulhall didn’t have any breeding details about him, so she did a DNA take a look at. It got here again that he’s half Percheron and half Noticed Draft cross.
He’s now her major pony within the morning and takes her coaching horses with out riders. “He can really deal with an excellent workload. If I assumed horses can be terrified of him due to his coloring. Not one of the horses have been terrified of him. I can take the craziest horse they usually simply cool down subsequent to him. They understand that they’ll’t bully him round. So, they’re really tremendous straightforward to pony off him.”
She needed to buy a particular saddle for him. “It seems small on him. I attempted to place it on a few of my Quarter Horses and it goes up over their butt. I needed to get the stirrups shortened so my legs would match it. I had a heck of a time with a cinch. He wears a 38-40 girth whereas the Quarter Horses put on a 28-30. I needed to do some looking out to seek out one.”
When Donna Brothers known as her in search of a pony to trip for Breeders’ Cup, Mulhall despatched her a video of Kong. “When Kristin first advised me I’ve obtained a horse for you, my first impression was that he’s a giant, tall drink of water! His head is as massive as my physique! He’s somewhat smaller than Harley (Churchill Downs’ well-known pony of measurement). I wasn’t certain that was going to work for me as a result of I’m little. However Kristin is my measurement.”
“He’s clearly a mild big. He’s so massive. Due to the place your ft hit on a traditional horse, my spurs weren’t lengthy sufficient to make contact simply. I needed to trip him somewhat bit otherwise. With him, I must flip my foot out to get my spur to the touch him in any respect. He didn’t want a variety of spur. The pure inclination for a lead pony like him is to maneuver away from a horse on his offside. So, only a contact of spur they usually assume, ‘OK, you need me over there.’ ”
“I actually did really feel like a 6-year-old child driving a Quarter Horse. My legs and my ft didn’t fall the place they usually ought to. Fortunately, he was such a mild big in order that didn’t matter.”
“I wasn’t certain if he can be easy, tough, or lazy. He didn’t strike me as a horse that might be actually aggressive, which he wasn’t. He was fairly easy in a lope, and the trot. Once I loped off him the primary time, I used to be delighted that he had a easy stride. He was actually type, too. He didn’t should be in his mouth very a lot. He was by no means making an attempt to take off. He was push-button.”
Photographer Zoe Metz calls Kong the “Harley of California.” Metz mentioned, “I’ve even had the pleasure of driving Kong just a few occasions. Not solely is he gorgeous, however he’s additionally very elegant. He’s like sitting on the sofa. He’s so large! He’s a mild big.”
From a world of bucking bulls and bucking broncos to a world of Thoroughbreds, Kong has made a straightforward transition. He was a ranch horse residing within the subject and didn’t learn about cookies and blankets. Now this light big has gained the hearts of many along with his first nationwide look on TV. Primarily based on his affect on social media, it’s not the final we will see of Kong. The large horse has a giant future on the monitor!
