Owner comments:

During my years in Australia back in the eighties I came across a spotted pony stallion called Zoda. The owners had bought him at a market and he didn't have any papers at that time, but I figured he was an appaloosa with some pony in him and a dash of thoroughbred.
I moved back to Sweden and wanted to bring Zoda with me, and so I did. He had to stay in the U.K for two months before he finally reached Swedish ground in 1992 and I was very happy, of course!

Later on, I wrote to the Australian Appaloosa club to see if they could help me to get hold of his papers and they forwarded my letter to some breeders from the area where he was born. It turned out he was sired by a POA stallion called Tomahawk The Whistler, a black spotted pony imported from the States by the fantastic foundation sire Stewart´s Danny Boy, originally from the U.K and who in the States got a supreme champion title and was honoured into the POA Hall of Fame. Tomahawk The Whistler won a futurity in New York before exported to Australia together with his full brother Tomahawk The Burgler (he sired a filly that has been a champion mare twice at Royal Melbourne Show and gold ROM performance and halter). Zoda`s breeder's stud name is HI RAIL and therefore Zoda got Hi Rail added to his name. Unfortunately, The Whistler had passed away and we had to DNA test a half brother instead. The DNA matched to 60 % which means they are brothers and they are a spitting image.

Zoda's foals have been spotted and all have been born with his ability to jump, with a lively and positive attitude. Zoda himself has competed in both dressage and Showjumping but is now retired. He is the first POA to be shown in Sweden as a stallion. He did a very good riding test and shared first place with another horse, out of 50 horses of special breeds (incl. Arabs, quarter, appaloosa, knapstrups among others). Because of his special history they have written about him both in U.K and Australia. Registrar Diane Letts from Appaloosas & Australian spotted ponies wrote in a letter last year:

" The Zoda saga is indeed extraordinary. It seems he is the link to the original British Spotted Ponies in England, through Danny Boy to the founding POA imports. After that through Danny Boy´s colt Tomahawk The Whistler, Chris Howe brought the line to our thriving little group Australian Spotted Ponies in Victoria, Australia. The next step was when you took Tomahawk The Whistler´s son Zoda to Sweden. All you need now is to sell one of your ponies to the U.K to complete the chain."

Hi Rail Zoda is still in high spirit despite the age and he´s a true gentleman. I hope he will live with me for a long time yet…. He´s just one of these horses you only have one in a lifetime…. if you're lucky….!