Charlie the Instagram 'House Horse' Spends His Nights in the Barn and His Days Relaxing Indoors

Wendy Grossman Kantor
·3 min read
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Phoenix, Arizona Aug. 3, 2022 Pamela Breece with Charlie---at home Pamela Breece thinks of herself as a grown-up Pippi Longstocking – from her red hair to the horse in her kitchen! Charlie, her 11-year-old Mustang is a "House Horse," he often walks around inside her home, interrupting the 51-year-old illustrator’s zoom calls, or going to the kitchen to look for snacks. “He’s really into watermelon right now,” says Breece, owner of the equestrian brand Pony Macaroni.Charlie the house horse

Pamela Breece

Pamela Breece thinks of herself as a grown-up Pippi Longstocking — from her red hair to the horse in her kitchen!

"All I need is a monkey," jokes the 51-year-old illustrator in Phoenix, Arizona.

When Breece hears hoofbeats on the wood floors inside her house, she knows her 11-year-old mustang, Charlie, is looking for her.

She calls Charlie her "house horse." He sleeps in his stall in the barn at night with Breece's other horses, but during the day — as long as the back door is open — he roams inside Breece's home, turning down her bedcovers, poking his head into her office, and wandering into the kitchen for a snack.

"He's really into watermelon right now," says Breece, owner of the equestrian brand Pony Macaroni. "I love all my horses, but he is definitely very, very, very special."

Phoenix, Arizona Aug. 3, 2022 Pamela Breece with Charlie---at home Pamela Breece thinks of herself as a grown-up Pippi Longstocking – from her red hair to the horse in her kitchen! Charlie, her 11-year-old Mustang is a "House Horse," he often walks around inside her home, interrupting the 51-year-old illustrator’s zoom calls, or going to the kitchen to look for snacks. “He’s really into watermelon right now,” says Breece, owner of the equestrian brand Pony Macaroni.Charlie the house horse

Pamela Breece

About six years ago, Breece rehomed Charlie from a Navajo reservation. One day, after riding Charlie in the arena behind her home, she got an alert from her doorbell camera.

"I was waiting for a UPS package for work," Breece tells PEOPLE. "I had taken his saddle and his bridle off, and I just turned around and ran to go into my yard, into my house, to go to get the door. After I took a few steps, I realized he was running behind me! So that's how he came in the very first time. I was running, and he just followed me. He came in the back door, came all the way up to the front door with me."

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She thought it was a one-time thing, but now Charlie regularly spends time in the house, sniffing the roses on the coffee table, looking around for her dogs, and saying hello to visitors.

Phoenix, Arizona Aug. 3, 2022 Pamela Breece with Charlie---at home Pamela Breece thinks of herself as a grown-up Pippi Longstocking – from her red hair to the horse in her kitchen! Charlie, her 11-year-old Mustang is a "House Horse," he often walks around inside her home, interrupting the 51-year-old illustrator’s zoom calls, or going to the kitchen to look for snacks. “He’s really into watermelon right now,” says Breece, owner of the equestrian brand Pony Macaroni.Charlie the house horse

Pamela Breece

"Now he knows how to get into the house. And I just let him — if the gate's open and the back door is open, he'll just come in," she says. "I feel like he comes in to find me. That's my thought. He never comes in the house if I'm outside."

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Breece shares photos and videos of Charlie and his inside-the-house antics on Instagram at @ponymacaronilove.

"It makes me so happy that he's so happy here and that he's obviously so comfortable with us," Breece says of Charlie.

Phoenix, Arizona Aug. 3, 2022 Pamela Breece with Charlie---at home Pamela Breece thinks of herself as a grown-up Pippi Longstocking – from her red hair to the horse in her kitchen! Charlie, her 11-year-old Mustang is a "House Horse," he often walks around inside her home, interrupting the 51-year-old illustrator’s zoom calls, or going to the kitchen to look for snacks. “He’s really into watermelon right now,” says Breece, owner of the equestrian brand Pony Macaroni.Charlie the house horse

Pamela Breece

She adds that one of the most common questions she receives about Charlie is, "Does he poop in your house?"

Throughout his six years of house calls, Charlie has only had two accidents.

"But it was all my fault," Breece insists, adding that the horse has "never, ever peed in the house."

"He makes me smile every day," Breece says. "The coolest part is that he's making so many people smile ... He's brought a lot of smiles to people all over the world."