First Pony Ride

I don’t think I’ve ever divulged this information before, but I used to LOVE horses. I mean really LOVE LOVE horses. I had all the My Little Ponies and a bunch of other beautiful toy horses growing up as a child. I also had a ton of books about horses too (The Saddle Club – anyone ever read those?) I even had a book that taught you how to ride. I would always beg my parents for riding classes but riding is an expensive sport, so I always got turned down.

Until one glorious summer, an opportunity came for me to go to a Girl Scout ridding camp. After much begging I was finally given the green light to go and boy was I in heaven. I endured a week’s worth of latrines and really bad (and I mean REALLY bad) camp food just to get to spend a few precious hours a day ridding. In my older years I have not pursued the whole horse thing but I am always looking to see if Emma shows any interest, which is why my heart jumped for joy when I saw the sign for “Pony Rides” at our county fair.

Now, it could have been the wet, muddy, downhill slope leading up to the ride that did it, but somehow (no clue how), I ended up flying down to the line so fast you’d think they were giving away free college tuition or something. I finally made it to the front of the line, bouncing Emma through the air with glee. “Look at the HORSIEEEEEEEES’” I squealed with vein bulging delight. Just to pause a moment and put things into perspective for you, it was getting towards the end of the day and Emma hadn’t had a proper dinner. She was tired and had already seen so many sights at the fair that she was on simulation overload so that might soften the blow from the devastating reality I am about to put before you.

My child, my offspring, my very DNA, did NOT like her first pony ride. Well either that or she had already assumed her competitive face for future equestrian events. Either way, all of my smiling and “WEEEEEEEing” did nothing to penetrate her stoic persona. She did not crack a smile once, not even her signature half a smile just to humor me. I am assuming she was concentrating on not falling off because her form, I mean come on, show champion quality for sure. As soon as I put her in the seat it was like she knew what to do. She grabbed ahold of the horn part of the saddle, which I’m sure has a real name but I will not pretend to be a horse snob and reference it (yeah too tired to do a google search right now.) She kept her balance and moved with the horse for the whole 2 minutes of the ride (really I thought we would go around the ring twice but it appears that not even pony rides can escape the evil reach of inflation.) 

 

 

So there you have it, no smiles, no laughter, no magic moment. Just a girl perched atop a gentle giant doing her best to process a situation that in all honesty was way too hurried of an experience for a toddler to fully understand. At least that is the story I am sticking with since after all, who knows, she could absolutely love horses one day!