Little Vinny Rescued And Ready For Wassail

By Katy Savage, Standard Staff

The first time Johnna Dana saw Little Vinny, was two years ago — he was huddled in a corner by himself, “terrified,” she said. Little Vinny was thin and had a mysterious lump on his head.

“He just was very frightened,” Dana said.

Dana doesn’t know what made the short, all-white pony so scared or what sort of background he came from. But there were signs of neglect when she first saw him.

His hooves were too long. He was afraid to go out of his stall and he didn’t seem to know what to do in a pasture.

Little Vinny was transported in a jammed trailer with hundreds of other unwanted horses to be sold at an auction in New Holland, Pennsylvania before Dana met him. Little Vinny waited at the auction to be bought by a “kill buyer” who would purchase him cheap and then send him to a slaughterhouse to make $500 for his meat.

But Little Vinny was rescued instead.

Johnna Dana brought Little Vinny to her home on Hartland Hill Road after seeing him listed for $325 online.

“There was just something about him. I always wanted a Welsh pony,” Dana said.

Dana could hardly do anything with him for a year. She groomed him and put a harness on him, took him for walks down the road. Little Vinny reared, unhappy and scared, and Dana waited.

Dana rehabilitated him with the help of a long list of friends, veterinarians and trainers. Little Vinny is feisty now, but sweet. He’s tame enough for children to ride him at horse shows and up mountains.

He’s being trained to be a driving horse and he’s making progress. He seems more content now.

“He’s grateful. They’re grateful. It’s almost like they know. It’s like he knew he was sold,” Dana said.

Little Vinny will make a debut in his first Wassail Parade on Saturday. He’ll be decorated with poinsettias in his mane and tail, decorations around his neck and a Garfield stuffed animal on his back.

Dana is a seasoned Wassailer who’s been in Woodstock’s annual Victorian Christmas themed horse parade 10 times before. The Garfield stuffed animal has ridden on her horses’ back in three parades.

“I make it look like Garfield’s riding,” Dana said.

Participating in Wassail is part of Dana’s holiday tradition. She wanted Little Vinny to be part of the experience also.

“He’s so precious,” Dana said. “Everybody loves him. He’s a barn favorite. He’s a neighborhood favorite.”

Little Vinny has been to horse shows before but this will be his first time in a parade with all the people and the noise of Christmas bells dinging on horse carriages. Dana’s not sure how he’ll react.

“It’s sort of like Times Square in Vermont,” Dana said. “For a horse, it’s pretty scary.”

Roxanne Sardelli Greenway, a Morgan horse breeder in Rhode Island and a friend of Dana’s, arranged the pickup of Little Vinny at the rescue as a surprise for Dana.

“He just looked like a pony that didn’t belong where he was,” Greenway said. “We just had to save him.”

Greenway’s father, Vinny, died about seven years ago and Dana named her horse after him as a thank you.

Greenway won’t make it to Wassail but she’ll see the event through photos.

“I’m always excited to see Little Vinny doing something new,” Greenway said.

Dana ‘s not sure why Little Vinny was so unwanted in his past life. An animal interpreter told Dana that Little Vinny lived in Pennsylvania and was sent to auction after a child fell off his back.

This is Dana’s first time owning a rescue horse.

“It’s really gratifying to take something that was thrown away,” she said.

Vinny lives with two other horses on Hartland Hill Road. His life now is much different from what it once was.

“He has a good life,” Dana said

This article first appeared in the December 10, 2015 edition of the Vermont Standard.