Meet Angel the Tiny Medieval Horse

Next Sunday, the Getty Center will turn itself into a miniature medieval village.

Family Festival: Medieval Play will offer you the chance to try a bevy of medieval games, make your own tunic, design a medieval bird puppet, and meet a very special guest: Angel the miniature medieval horse, who’s a pretty big deal.

Miniature horses are bred to resemble full-sized horses and differ from ponies, which are stockier and have thicker coats and manes than horses. King Louis XIV kept a mini at Versailles; and they were first brought to the US to work in low-ceilinged coal mines.

Angel and her owner Sherry Acton-Snowden are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a living history organization whose members dress up in medieval garb and recreate life in the Middle Ages.

One of the most exciting ways they do this is “war,” where different kingdoms gather for a series of games, events, tourneys, and more. Here’s how the website describes it:

“Imagine yourself standing on a field surrounded by colorful pavilions as banners flutter and snap overhead. Around you, richly dressed lords and ladies are watching knights in armor who battle with sword and shield.”

When you’re imagining knights in armor and noble steeds, you’re probably not envisioning a three-foot-tall horse led by a tinker-farmer: an everyday medieval citizen who sells wares in town (and Acton-Snowden’s persona).

But not only do Angel and Acton-Snowden compete in the war’s games, they’ve won them. How did they do it? By making the Middle Ages more accessible. It’s part of the ethos of the SCA. Instead of strictly sticking to what’s historically accurate, they recreate “the Middle Ages as they ought to have been,” to get a better sense of the lived experience.

Because Angel is too small to support a rider, Sherry fashioned her a cart: a miniature, modified version of a Celtic chariot from Roman Britain. That’s technically earlier than medieval times, “but it’s something I can do with her,” smiles Acton-Snowden.

And sometimes, they have to get creative. Like the time they encountered a standard horse-sized water crossing, too deep for Angel to cross. “I was handling the weapons, Susie was driving,” remembers Acton-Snowden. “We both jumped out of the chariot. Susie led Angel around the water crossing, and I picked up the chariot, carried it over and put it back down.”

Susie, by the way, is Suzanne Snowden, Sherry’s wife. Angel introduced them. Well, more accurately, Angel needed someone to train her to pull the chariot and Snowden, then a platonic friend, signed up. Together—with Acton-Snowden driving and Snowden wielding the weapons—they became the first chariot-driven winners of The War. And yes, Angel attended the wedding.

Angel also found her happy ending. “She loves being driven,” Acton-Snowden explains. “She’s just so gung-ho. As soon as you put her in her harness she’s like, ‘let’s go, we have a job to do.’”