Rob Crater stands in the center of a sandy corral as a dark brown and white stallion trots wide circles around him.

The 6-year-old stallion shakes its head and gives a sharp whinny, his nostrils flaring and vibrating with the call to his mares penned up just a few yards away. His hooves pound on the dirt in a quick staccato and his dark head is tucked to his chest.

The small Shetland pony stallion, Reflected Image, has to reach to grab the green leaves off the bottom branches of the tree. He may be small but he is the biggest champion on this little plot of land behind a double-wide manufactured home in Burbank.

“He’s the best of the best,” said Crater, the owner of CLC Stables.

Crater, 26, and his fiancee, Nikeela Black, raise miniature horses and Shetland ponies and miniature Australian Shepherds in Burbank.

Crater bought Reflected Image, the 2002 National Grand Champion Classic Shetland, last year. It’s all part of his plan to breed the champion ponies and miniature horses.

“I liked him when I first saw him as a yearling but I didn’t ever think he would come up for sale,” he said.

Crater’s a horseman, but unlike Black, one of the top jockeys riding the Blue Mountain racing circuit, he’d rather be steering from a sulky or cart behind the horse.

“Riding doesn’t appeal to me,” he said.

Black spends her summers hopping on the backs of equine athletes that reach more than 5 feet tall at the withers. She’s on them when they jump out of the starting gate with a handful of other contenders, and she tries to steer her 1,000-pound ward to the front of the herd and fights to stay there.

Crater’s world is less frantic. He’s more comfortable driving his ponies, which can’t be more than 38-inches tall, in the show ring — never breaking a trot — but definitely breaking a sweat.

“I get nervous,” he said.

The worlds may be different but the desire is the same. They both want to win.

Crater, who graduated from Washington State University with a degree in animal science, keeps cow records at a local dairy. After work, a small menagerie waits for him at home.

Growing up in the rural outskirts of the Tri-Cities, Crater grew up on 4-H and farm animals, showing sheep and chicken at the Benton County Fair & Rodeo.

He was 16 when he bought his first miniature horse — a little gelding that he taught to drive under harness.

As long as Shetlands don’t exceed height requirements, they can be registered through the American Shetland Pony Club and the American Miniature Horse Registry, he said.

He started showing the horses after he met Jodi Cook, who owns a miniature horse farm in Palouse, and began driving and showing her horses.

“We met over the Internet,” Cook said. “He had e-mailed me about a horse he had that had been bred by me.”

Later, when Crater was attending WSU, Cook was showing her horses at the Palouse Empire Fair. Crater went to the fair, looked up Cook and introduced himself.

“I had a bunch of horses and handed him one and told him to get into the ring,” Cook said.

Cook said Crater quickly caught on and the two became fast friends.

“I have always liked his enthusiasm and willingness to learn,” she said.

Looking dapper in a top hat and black tuxedo jacket, Crater earned plenty of ribbons and made a lot of great friends.

“I really love the camaraderie of the show circuit — it’s one big family,” he said.

Now he’s hoping to start collecting some of the ribbons and the reputation that goes with them by building a top-quality stable of Shetlands and miniature horses. Right now he has eight — six shetlands and two that are dual-registered. He attends five to six shows featuring shetlands and miniature horses each year.

He said Shetlands ponies have gotten a bad rap in the past.

“I want to get rid of the myth that Shetlands are mean — they are very versatile,” he said.

When trained properly, they make a great first horse for small children, can be driven in front of a cart and they are a great addition to the family.

“Really, they are for everyone,” he said, while he rinsed the corral dirt from Image’s legs.

And he hopes by having Image at his farm and being very selective about breeding the stallion, he can make the line even better.

“My goal is to breed a grand champion,” he said.