Greetings from Shekinah Valley Ranch, located 5 km south of Elbow, Saskatchewan, just off the shores of Lake Diefenbaker. We, Debbie and Harvey Joel, along with our sons Philip and Shayne, raise and train Pony of the Americas. Our daughter Ashley and her husband Dwayne Stamnes often bring our granddaughters, Kelley and Rachel, to come and ride the POA'S.

In recognizing the need and demand for high quality, quiet and well trained youth horses, we made the decision to raise and train a horse that would fill that demand. With that goal in mind we selected the Pony of the Americas breed because of their unsurpassed disposition and conformation. In searching for a sire that would meet our standards and expectations, we have found our "dream horse" in Wynsome Gold.

Our goal at Shekinah Valley Ranch is to follow our Mission Statement: to raise and train our POA’s to be the most outstanding and versatile youth horses in Canada, with superior disposition, conformation and performance, and to match them with the best possible owners.

It all started in the early '90's when we ran an hourly trail ride from our ranch during the tourist season. In aquiring the trail horses we experienced first hand how difficult it was to find them reliably broke with quiet dispositions. When we discontinued that venture we found that we could have sold 10 kid-quiet horses for every one we had. We said "why isn't anyone breeding quiet kids' horses?". Then we thought "why not us?". The pursuit was on to find the right breed. When we discovered the Pony of the Americas we knew that was the direction we wanted to take. We decided to purchase some POA's and work towards breeding an outstanding youth pony.

In our quest for the "perfect POA" we’ve both upgraded and culled our breeding stock to line up with our Mission Statement. We are confident that the cross between our stallion, Wynsome Gold, and the brood mares we've chosen will give us the horse we are looking for. They have the whole package for children, youth and the adult that doesn’t want a large horse. "The horse that can do it all".

In looking to the future we have many goals and dreams. We will continue showing and promoting our POA’s at the local level and then go on to the national and international shows. The events we want to focus on are Halter, Western and English Pleasure, Trail, Jumping, and Reining.

Our ultimate goal is to see more and more youth and adults riding these wonderful "little big horses".