Tribute to Two Tone Target
"Target"
1986 - October 23, 2011

Yes, "On Target Miniatures" is named after a horse, but not a mini.

"Target," who we recently lost, was a 15 hand Pinto gelding, who was born in 1986 and was in our family since 1994. At the time of his purchase from a large Connecticut horse dealer he was an unregistered cowpony that we subsequently got registered with the Pinto Horse Association and showed on the New England Pinto circuit. Being very versatile, he was shown in English, Western, dressage, trail, equitation, and showmanship classes. Then in September 1998 while boarding at a nearby barn, he suffered a serious colic which required surgery to remove six feet of his small intestines. He recovered from that fairly quickly and was back in the show ring the next spring. Then in March 2001, he colicked again and this time it was even more serious. The surgeons were not very optimistic and figured he would be nutritionally compromised if he even survived the surgery, but since they already had him opened up at that point, I urged them to continue and give the boy a chance. This time they removed another 24 feet of small intestines, in a different area from the first surgery, For five days after the surgery it was very much touch and go because there was no motility in the gut so they couldn't allow him to eat. He had to be tubed and have his stomach pumped every few hours. Once his intestines started to function again, his recovery was rapid. He was always an "easy keeper" and was given as much grass as possible, even while in the hospital.

Ironically, the second surgery occurred just about the time our new home, on the farm we bought for Target, was ready for us to move in. We figured that being on pasture would be the best thing for him, so as soon as the barn was built, we brought him home. Even though I promised him that if he survived the surgery he wouldn't have to ever go to another show, I realized he LOVED to show, so I went back on my word. Thus in late 2003 he finally earned the PtHA points he needed for his Amateur Pinto Championship. Then of course, we needed a companion for him so he wouldn't be lonely when he was home. We had fallen in love with minis, so of course we had to have one, and it had to be a Pinto so we could bring it along to the Pinto shows. Thus Cowboy (SRF Masters Touch) entered our lives, and we haven't been the same since.