Grandpa Merrill Buroker

Welcome to

Grandpa Merrill's
Page

November 27, 1905 - January 9, 1994

Grandpa was known as the "pony man". Kids from 8 to 80 knew him from far and wide. Many was the kid that had a fun-filled weekend riding and playing with Grandpa's ponies. He sold ponies for riding and driving. The Shetlands he raised were a big pony: usually around 11 or 12 hands. His first favorite color was the silver dapple. They were a light brown dapple with white or almost silver manes and tails. At one time he bought a stallion of this color and had it shipped on a train all the way from Missouri. Later on he admired the buckskins, so he bought a stallion named Buck from another local breeder, and he raised buckskin ponies.

Merrill Ardean Buroker
1901-1994

Grandpa built his own wagons and made his own harness. Most pony wagons that are seen around the Tri State area of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have been built by him along with the beautiful silver studded harnesses.

My sisters and I went to a country school about 2 miles from home. One of my fondest memories was when we got enough snow to keep the roads covered through the day, I could look out my schoolroom window at the end of the school day and there would be Grandpa with his team of ponies hitched to the sled to take us home. Of course every kid that could possibly fit in the sled would want a ride. Grandpa would give rides to as many as he could, then we would head home all snuggled in blankets with the sleigh bells jingling.

Grandpa drove a silver dapple six-pony hitch in countless parades. Thanks goes to Grandma who did all the grooming, of course! He won the World Championship Driving Team in Spokane, Washington, at the Spokane Interstate Fair two years running. That was in 1962 and 1963. After the second win the team and wagon were sold. Grandpa was working on putting together a buckskin team.

The buckskin team turned out to be more difficult to match than he expected. Most of his foals would be born buckskin only to turn black or brown about 6 months of age. The ones that stayed buckskin were so many different shades of buckskin that he finally had to give it up. They could be anywhere between the dark caramel color to the cream color.

Grandpa then purchased a couple of gray Welsh ponies and began driving them to his surrey. He was hired to carry the Umatilla County Fair court through the parades for many years. He was honored as the Grand Marshal of the Umatilla County Fair Parade a few years before he died. My father drove him in the wagon that I now have inherited.

Here is the poem that my sister, Linda, wrote to read at his funeral:

The Pony Man

They call him “The Pony Man”-----
Where he and his ponies were
Excited, smiling, children were certain to be found.

Joy, pride, and love spread across this face
Each time he relived the exciting moments of a championship race.

He was most at home when his calloused hands guided the reins of a team.
Through these “life lines,” to the ponies, he projected the will, the spirit, and the dream.

An artist, his creations live on in wagons and in leather,
These are working masterpieces, giving testimony that no one does it better.

He has passed his love and passions onto daughter, son, and many a grandchild,
We all loved the ponies he gave us, be they spirited or mild.

He planted the seeds that sprang forth to the love that had captivated each of our hearts,
For that “lifetime special” horse or pony.

He guides a team on higher ground now,
And today our hearts are downtrodden.

But “The Pony Man” lives on in all of us --
Never gone -- Never forgotten.

By Linda Hall
January 1994

Grandpa Merrill with Benny and Joon, the last of his ponies.
1993