The Walker Ranch

10/04/2026

🐴 In 1977 four mares walked across a frozen lake, and that is the only reason the Ojibwe pony still exists.

These small ponies belonged to the Ojibwe, and in the 1940s a herd of them at the Bois Forte Indian Reserve in northern Minnesota was rounded up and destroyed on the advice of missionaries.

By 1977 four mares were all that was left. Canadian health officials had reportedly deemed them a health risk and announced plans to destroy them. Before the authorities could act, five men from the Bois Forte and Lac La Croix First Nations took the four mares across the ice to the Minnesota reserve.

The mares were bred to a registered Spanish Mustang stallion named Smokey SMR 169. The first new generation included Keokuk, born in January 1980, and Nimkii, born in January 1985, and those two founded the bloodlines the breed still runs on.

Breeders have brought the population back to about 150, spread across ranches, farms and breeding sanctuaries in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of the United States.

You will see the breed called three things: the Lac La Croix Indigenous pony, the Lac La Croix Indian pony, and the Ojibwe pony.

Had you heard of this breed before today?

10/03/2026

09/22/2026

09/15/2026

The old-school mindset of "wet saddle blankets and miles" is often just a shortcut wrapped up in tradition. It relies on natural fatigue as the ultimate trainer, operating under the assumption that if you just wear a horse out, they’ll stop resisting, figure it out, and magically get better—regardless of how unbalanced the rider is or how heavy they are in the horse's mouth. But your horse is only as good as you are, and there are no quick fixes.

When we force a horse through thousands of repetitions under a rider with poor posture and harsh hands, we aren’t building a partner; we are creating a "leg mover" bracing against pain, which can eventually leads to chronic physical soreness, kissing spine, and learned helplessness.

Real horsemanship requires us to get out of the horse's mouth, stop blaming them for giving the wrong answer to a poorly asked question, and instead ask ourselves: "What's in this for the horse?" True balance and a pure, relaxed gait—especially in gaited breeds—can only happen when we take responsibility for our own self-awareness, master true equine and rider biomechanics, and develop the horse from back to front with compassion and empathy.

09/12/2026

GAITED FUNCTIONAL TRAINING POSTURE

1. Nose in front of the vertical
2. Poll level with or slightly higher than wither
3. Wither higher or level with croup
4. Open throatlatch

*Nuchal ligament supporting upper neck muscles
*Muscles under-neck and across the topline free from tension
*Most importantly, regularity and energy from the hindquarters

Contact us for info on a clinic near you to learn more🤠

09/07/2026

Little Oli. The horse that would not load himself. Now he gets right in.

09/04/2026

Shyner.

09/04/2026

Baby snake

08/19/2026

Thank goodness I have a good farrier!!