Sergey.. thank you SO Much for that very detailed reply! That will be helpful in our decision making process. Perhaps we'll start looking more at Welsh.

Wiccanspirit... what a wonderful story about your Shetland! What to hear something wild? When I was a teenager, I volunteered with Therapeutic Horseback Riding. They "matched" me with a horse, and it turned out to be a Shetland pony. I got all misty-eyed, thinking of Lucky who I rode as a child.
Then, they told me that his name was "Lucky"!! OMG! I asked who the owner was, and they told me. It was the SAME PONY! Yes, it was "my" Lucky who I adored as a child.
How neat is that?? He looked so much smaller than I remembered as a child, of course.