BAGUIO CITY (PNA) – For any first-time visitor of this so-called Summer Capital of the Philippines, a trip around its famous tourist attractions will never be complete without the traditional pony ride at Wright Park.

But ever since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic broke out last March, tourists have stopped coming, and so has the daily income for the 200 members of the Wright Park Pony Boys Association.

Realizing that they could again turn to their steed in these times of crisis, the so-called “Pony Boys” have turned to producing compost soil and fertilizer from horse manure.

Member Scott Madon said they started making compost fertilizer after the declaration of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March.

“Sometime in March, there was a person who bought horse manure. We saw the fast sales and we all followed making the compost fertilizer,” he said in the Ilocano dialect.

They have costumers, who purchase as many as 100 sacks of compost and fertilizer.

He said they sell a 25-kilo sack of plain compost -- black soil or horse manure -- at P150 each.

The 6-in-1 compost with coco feed, Alnus, black soil, compost, rice hull, and vermicast is sold at P200 per 25 kilos.

He said that from serving as guide to those who rent horses, they eventually formed into groups, all doing the same activity, each getting their own market to sell compost and fertilizer.

Madon said that sales are just enough to sustain their needs as well as for their horses.

He said that the horse manure that they used to just give away was now helping them survive amid the pandemic.

Surviving the horses’ needs

Another pony boy for seven years now, “Manong Likoy”, 37, said they have had to look after their family and the horses.

He said he was a widower with three children, two of whom were in the elementary and one in high school. He was also tending for three horses, but one recently died of flu.

“They (horses) are used to having people riding on their backs and they regularly walk, but with the pandemic, they stayed in the stable. The confinement probably made them stressed, got sick and died,” he said in the dialect

Manong Likoy shared that like children, horses also need to be taken care of and provided with proper nutrients.

They use to buy grass at P80 per sack and horse feed at P900 per sack "that will last for a week”.

With the pandemic, they decreased the meal proportion to make the feeds last longer, making the horses malnourished which he hopes will not last very long.

“When they (pony boys) were earning before the pandemic, they (horses) had sufficient food and were pampered, but not at this time,” he said.

Manong Likoy said that Mayor Benjamin Magalong donated 500 sacks of horse feeds for the association.

“That will last a month, we are very thankful to him,” he said.

At present, the city government is currently conducting consultations with various stakeholders on the proposed resumption of economic activities including the city's tourism resumption and recovery plan.