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

Target was a 15 hand Pinto gelding who was born in 1986 and was in our family since 1994. At the time of the purchase from a large well-known Connecticut horse dealer, he was an unregistered cowpony. We subsequently got him registered with the Pinto Horse Association (PtHA) 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 intestine. He recovered from that fairly quickly and was back in the show ring the next spring. In March 2001, he colicked again and this time is was even more serious. The surgeons were not very optomistic and figured that even if he survived, he would be nutritionally compromised. But since they had already opened him up, 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 than from the first surgery. For five days after the surgery it was touch and go because there was no motility in the gut so they could not 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 occured 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 would ever have to go to another show. I then realized that he LOVED to show. So, I had to go back on my word! So 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 do he would not be lonely when he was home. We had fallen in love with mini's 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 have not been the same since.