Most people save their outdoor horseback riding for the daytime.
But not so with this sneaky Corgi dog, who was found seated aboard a pony in a neighbor's pasture last week.
The pony belongs to 22-year-old Missouri resident Callie Schenker. She was just returning home last Thursday night when she spotted an unusual scene in the pasture — the neighbor's Corgi sitting aboard her one-eyed pony, Cricket.
Schenker, who lives in Halfway, Missouri, grabbed her phone and began recording the bizarre scene. She posted the 15-second clip to Facebook for her friends to enjoy along with her.
"I can't make this stuff up!!! So we pull back in our driveway tonight and this is what we see. This is not our dog! But apparently him and Cricket the one eyed wonder pony are best friends. I'm stealing the dog, new circus act!"
Much to her surprise the video went viral. By Monday morning, it had received almost 5 million views and been shared 85,000 times, and she awoke to 400 new Facebook notifications.
"It was insane," she told the Springfield News-Leader. "It was kind of overwhelming."
The video was even picked up by international media outlets, like the Daily Mirror.
With all the attention, Schenker found it necessary to edit her original post to address a few of the concerns she had noticed in the comments. The dog, she said, belongs to her Mennonite neighbors and just randomly shows up. He didn't get hurt, is not abused at home, and just likes to travel the rural area where they live. Cricket the pony lost his eye a long time ago in an incident that was not related to the dog. And, believe it or not, she did not put the dog on the pony.
She wrote:
"Honestly I was pulling in my drive way from going to Mcdonalds when I seen this happening. I'm lucky I even got the video because my phone was nearly dead. I didn't have any intentions of his video being viral."
Her favorite part of the video is how the dog, who she thinks is called Roper, nonchalantly sat aboard the pony even as Cricket began moving.
"He rode it like people," Schenker said. "That, to us, is the killer of the video — that he actually stayed on."
She had caught the dog aboard the pony once before, about two days before the video, but that time she only snapped a photo. She is glad she took video this time, and that people have been enjoying it.
Schenker said:
"I'm really glad everyone got a good laugh out of it — if they got a laugh from the actual dog, or a laugh from my laugh. I'm glad it's something happy this time instead of something sad in the news."
To be the first to learn about new Cricket and Roper videos, follow the Facebook page, "Cricket And Pals." One can only hope there will be more laughs to come.
What do you think of this new "circus act?" Share your thoughts below.
All images via Facebook/CricketAndPals.
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