Emma and Cinnamon: Little Girl Leads Her Mustang Through the Snow

A very small girl named Emma leads a big, patient horse called Cinnamon across a snowy yard, holding the reins as her dad films. Horse Nation counted it among the most adorable horse videos of 2014, and it is easy to see why: Cinnamon, a mustang, matches her pace to the child beside her step by step.

Emma and Cinnamon in the snow

The video is a simple family recording. Emma walks ahead with the reins, Cinnamon follows on the snowy ground, and her father keeps the camera rolling from close by. Viewers noticed how carefully the horse moved around the little girl; when Emma dropped the reins, Cinnamon nosed at them as if trying to help.

Horse Nation described the clip as “a little girl leading a gentle horse through the snow”, and on MetaFilter it was shared under the title “Yay, Cimman!”, a toddler’s version of the horse’s name.

What is a mustang?

Mustangs are the free-roaming horses of the American West. They descend from horses brought to the Americas by Spanish conquistadors, later mixed with many other breeds, so their looks vary widely. Because their ancestors were domesticated, they are technically feral horses, even though everyone calls them wild.

Most mustangs stand about 14 to 15 hands, roughly 56 to 60 inches at the withers, and few exceed 16 hands.

Where mustangs live and how they are protected

More than half of America’s mustangs live in Nevada, with other large herds in California, Oregon, Utah, Montana and Wyoming. Their numbers fell to about 25,000 by the 1950s, and in 1971 Congress passed the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, calling them “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”

The Bureau of Land Management looks after herds on its land, and the US Forest Service on national forests. The range population has grown well beyond the BLM’s target of 26,690 horses, passing 88,000 by 2019. Since 1978 rounded-up horses have been offered for adoption, and in 2019 the BLM began paying adopters $1,000 to give a mustang a home.

Children and horses in winter

Snow and ice make footing tricky for horses and small children alike. Keep a capable adult at the horse’s head, as Emma’s dad was close by, pick a calm, experienced horse, and choose level ground with soft snow over packed ice. A riding helmet and boots with good grip make even a short walk much safer.

For more snowy animal stories, see Stetson’s snowy outing and children and animals in carefully composed photographs.

Related reading

• Kayden’s First Rain: A Small Discovery at the Doorstep
• Ava’s Early Snowboard Ride at Mammoth
• Zoe’s First Skiing Days: A Family Film at Seventeen Months
• A Frozen-Inspired Backyard Snow Day in South Carolina

Sources