A playful corgi with a passion for horseriding travels about a mile to meet his pony friend and hop on his back.
It might look like something straight out of a circus, but it is certainly not. Callie Schenker has been observing an amusing friendship between two animals at her farm for a while. The whole incident would have sounded unbelievable if Schenker had failed to record it on her phone. Schenker arrived at her Missouri farm one night and found her miniature pony, Cricket, giving a joy ride to a neighbor’s corgi, according to The Dodo.
“I was astounded,” Schenker told the outlet about her one-eyed pony and the dog. “I had no idea that, on the one hand, the dog could ride. And two, that Cricket was letting him do it.” When Schenker shared the video on Facebook in 2018, it did not take long for it to receive popularity. However, many viewers online suspected that Schenker had simply placed the dog on top of the pony to gain views, so she has a fitting answer to that in the form of another video on her YouTube channel. “People said I must have put the corgi up there. Tied him on there,” Schenker said. “I’m like, ‘He just did.'”
Schenker herself had no idea that the pony had found a new friend in the corgi and that they have become riding buddies. She tried to figure out how the duo managed to accomplish a trick that was mostly performed by circus animals. Schenker finally found the answer when she filmed the second video in broad daylight. While putting on her make-up one day, she looked out of her window after hearing some noise. She was stunned to find the mischievous corgi riding Cricket once again. “The corgi is like a captain,” Schenker remarked.
She ran outside to capture the moment on her phone, but the dog had already dismounted Cricket. But Schenker lingered around and soon, the playful dog bounced back successfully on the pony’s back. “I kinda had a hunch that’s how he did it. But it was cool to see. And to see Cricket play around with him was cool,” Schenker mentioned. The 5-year-old pony had been living with Schenker and her husband Bob at their Missouri farm for about a year when she recorded the encounter with his canine friend. The couple had purchased an underweight Cricket at an auction for $80. “I just fell in love with him,” Schenker recalled. “I told my husband I have to have this pony.”
Unfortunately, Cricket lost one of his eyes in an accident a while after moving to the farm, but he continues to follow Schenker around “like a dog” and loves “belly rubs.” Cricket has only one job at the farm and that is calming down the nervous horses with his sweet and gentle nature. As for the adventurous pup, Schenker believes his name is Roper, but she isn’t sure about it. She found out that the dog lives a mile away from the farm with a family and happens to be a “free spirit.” The corgi had not only befriended Cricket but also liked to play with Schenker’s pet Chihuahuas, Taco and Red. The pony and pup duo continue to have their adventures on the 15-acre farm even as Schenker wonders what they actually do when she is not around to observe them.
