"horse in house" story

["Jutta" <leosch@minot.com>]

Sorry Steph, I know all this horse in the house story is not endurance related, but where are all the endurance people? I can't imagine them at the mall Christmas shopping! It's been very quiet on ridecamp. So I thought I would contribute my dumb "horse in the house" story anyway, taking the risk of getting in trouble with the ridecamp police.

Growing up in Germany we lived next to a rather high end stable. The owner made us neighborhood girls clean the moss between the cobblestones in the courtyard with  hoofpicks and all sorts of hard labor. As a reward we got to muck stalls and brush and ride a couple of his ponies. One day he announced that he was sick of the ponies, and that he would haul them to auction to make sausage out of them (very strategic thinking on his part). Of course I went home crying my head off. Within the next few days my parents hosted a New Years Eve party, and this guy was there. As the evening progressed and all people had enough to drink, a deal was made.

 All I remember is my dad waking me up in the middle of the night and saying "Get up honey, try out your new pony!" Sleepy eyed I crawled out of bed and went into the living room and There he was! His name was Silver Dollar (a Welsh pony). This was better than any Christmas I ever had! I rode him bareback around the dining room table in my pajamas.

OF COURSE, now that I am grown up, I know this was a really dumb thing to do, but it was quite impressive on a 10 year old girl.

My parents were really not in a position to buy me a horse, and besides that, they paid way too much. But wouldn't it have been for this party, I probably never would have owned a horse. Thanks Dad!

Silver handled the party quite well, and I owned him for many years. He looked just like a little Arab.