96 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
with this ridiculous face.”
This near lifelike horse is perfect for
Jean’s goal – which is to appeal to
all equestrians. And that is something
she has definitely accomplished.
While Fergus does occasionally
have jokes that are discipline-
specific (like his personal definitions
for hunters and jumpers), so many
of Fergus’ comics appeal to all
horse enthusiasts.
Jean explains, “Fergus can pretty much
do anything.” We should add that he can also make almost
everyone laugh!
And what Fergus can’t do, his friends can. Jean created several
other horses to complement the Fergus comic strips, including the
pony matriarch named Grace, naïve Appaloosa foal named Ditto
and many others.
The key to Fergus and his friends’ success is simple – they
are 100 percent horse, not humans in animal suits. While some
animal cartoon characters behave like humans, Fergus doesn’t.
He behaves like a horse. And in doing so, reminds us how human
we are.
Jean describes Fergus as the exact opposite of other elegant
and noble equine heroes of our culture. He’s a bit scrawny, a little
scraggly and happy that way. Human logic doesn’t make much
sense to him.
“When you get a horse all spiffed up for a show, you care how
they look, but they
don’t care how they look,” she explains. “They
don’t care if their mane is brushed or braided. They’ll go out and
roll in the dirt because it feels good. Like real horses, that’s just
how Fergus is.”
This true-to-life humor has led
Fergus on an incredible path. Along
the way, he has appeared in several
periodicals such as
Horse & Pony
News, Blaze Magazine, Horse
Canada, Horse Sport, Today’s
Horse, Monty Roberts’ Join-Up
Journal
and
The Ocala Star Banner
– and now he has made his mark
on
Sidelines
.
He also has his own coloring
book,
My Friend Fergus
, which was written and illustrated by his
creator, Jean.
Today, Fergus has more than 63,000 Facebook fans with daily
interaction. “It’s incredibly gratifying to get messages from all over
the world. With some of them I have to hit the translation link to
understand their comments.”
Jean explains, “What people seem to love most about Fergus is
that they can really connect with him because he reminds them of
their own horses. A lot of comments come in across Facebook like
“
Fergus reminds me of my horse!
’ You couldn’t pay me a higher
compliment.”
For more information about Fergus and his creator, Jean, visit
.
About the writer: Dani Moritz is a graduate of William Woods University with
majors in Equine General Studies and Communications and is currently pursuing
a Master’s In Strategic Leadership at Stephens College. She is very happy to be a
staff writer and distribution manager for Sidelines Magazine and the proud owner of
a beautiful Paint/Arabian mare named September. She is also the 2012 American
Horse Publications Student Award winner.
