HOOPER, Neb. (AP) - She’s not very big, but she attracts attention.
Her name is Barbie and she could be considered a doll - but of the equine sort.
Barbie is a miniature registered horse, who’s just 28 inches tall at the shoulder. Or in horseman’s talk that’s about four hands high.
Cecil Hocking of Hooper owns the reddish-brown horse, who was a hit at the town’s recent downtown Christmas event. The Hooper Main Street Extravaganza held last Sunday featured hot dogs and hot chocolate. Boy Scouts dished up chili and Girl Scouts supervised cookie decoration. Santa even showed up in a firetruck.
But along with all the activities was another event favorite: Barbie the horse.
Children love seeing and petting the little horse, said Roxanne Meyer, president of the Hooper Chain of Friends, which sponsors the annual holiday event.
The Fremont Tribune (https://bit.ly/2hijyAD ) reports Hocking bought the small horse a few years ago.
“I went to a sale by Palmyra,” he said. “They had miniature horses for sale and she was a colt. She didn’t have a mother.”
Hocking liked the small animal’s reddish-brown coat.
“She was real cute,” he said, adding, “She was only 6 months old.”
Hocking bought the colt for $120. He picked up Barbie and loaded her into a pickup, where she laid down. He took her home.
That was about six years ago.
Hocking keeps Barbie on a farm in the country.
“She’s real easy to get along with,” he said of the horse’s sweet disposition.
Hocking has taken Barbie to parades and said she’s been to Hooper’s Extravaganza about three or four times.
“They love her. They know Barbie,” he said of children who come up to pet the little animal.
Hocking, who has three children and seven grandchildren, knows why youngsters like the horse.
“She’s their size,” he said.
Barbie seems to like all the attention.
“She stands there and just enjoys it,” he said.
Hocking even walked Barbie through the local nursing home, where he said residents enjoyed seeing the animal, too.
“They’d say, ’I used to ride a horse to school,’ or ’I used to have a pony like that,’” he noted.
Hocking plans to make a little cart for the petite horse to pull.
On Monday morning, Hocking talked while Barbie nibbled some grass. The horse was more intent on eating than posing for a picture.
One might wonder if being a celebrity can become somewhat mundane even for those of the equine set.
But then again, there were no children around at the time to pet Barbie or old-timers, whose thoughts trek back to earlier days and good memories whenever they see the friendly little horse.
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Information from: Fremont Tribune, https://www.fremontneb.com
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