In 1977 I went to work for the Glenn County Senior Nutrition Program as an Assistant Cook.  Never had so much fun in my life and got paid for it too.  There I met Harriet and Jasper Lingle, both in their mid to late 70’s.  Both were tiny in stature but more than made up for that in their enthusiasm and friendship.  I found out that they had shown Shetland ponies for years up and down the West Coast of California, Oregon and Washington during the 1960’s thru the early 1970’s.  Well, being an avid horse lover all my life, we really hit it off and talked horses and ponies.   On a visit out to their home one day, Harriet handed me a stack of old pony journals and on the front of one was the most elegant, gorgeous, high stepping Fine Harness Pony hitched to a Viceroy that I had ever seen, and I was hooked and in love. 

With Harriet’s guidance, we visited Nelthorpe’s Tiny Acres Pony Farm in Loomis, California, and I bought my very first pony.  He was a very refined little dark bay that I named Satan Cody’s Mahogany Boy.  Also in the deal, was a little black mare, Satan Cody’s Black Jewel that Mr. Nelthorpe sold my daughter, Robin for a song.   We started going to the Pony Shows at the Fairs and the bug really bit hard.  I started showing Harriet and Jasper’s three buckskin ponies for them and our show string started.  Unfortunately, on the way home from a show in Gridley, Ca. Mahogany struck his head on a divider and was injured to the point that we had to put him down a couple of weeks later.  It really took the wind out of my sails.  I couldn’t look at another pony for a while.  Then I went back to the Nelthorpes and purchased another pony that didn’t  work out, but in the meantime, I purchased B Mr. Playboy and B Miss Sassy, and all their carts and harnesses and I was on my way.  B Mr. Playboy was a Fine Harness pony standing no more than 42” at the most.  He was absolutely elegant, and his ½ sister Sassy became my Roadster pony.  We purchased three little black mares, also of the Cody bloodlines and we started breeding. Our herd got larger when I purchased 9 more ponies from a farm going out of business.  They were also of the Cody bloodlines.   We showed as many as 14 head at the local County Fair pony shows. It took me two trips in my 16ft stock trailer to get them all there.   And  that was the beginning of Northwind Farms.

I have stayed with the Pierre Cody Bloodlines and outcrossed over the years until I got the type of pony I wanted.  I was looking for conformation, temperament, and style.  I was breeding a more modern classic before their time.  I wanted my ponies to look like a small version of a saddlebred horse.  We added Cody’s Bashful Blaze, NTA, a silver chestnut stallion and a group of his mares in the early 1990’s.   He has produced some of my best show ponies to date.  He is now retired at the age of 24.  

Our Stallion Roster now boasts PFS’s Warning Label, a dark Brown Pinto and Congress Champion Classic Stallion,  Northwind’s Firecracker Cody, a Sorrel and White Pinto, and Zip Code OK, a black and white Pinto, who is now in training with John Stacy of Sunrise Show Horses  We have several Hall of Fame Ponies and National Champions.  This has been the culmination of over 30 years of breeding and showing.  It has been an exciting and rewarding endeavor.  Look for the Northwind Ponies at the shows.  They have been very successful for their owners and they never fail to be in the ribbons. 

Thanks to John and Naomi Stacy of Sunrise Show Horses, we will continue to have winners in the show ring and more Champions to come.  We are located in Orland. in Northern California, Just off Interstate 5.