My daughter was 9 when I took her on her first
ride, a 25 miler. She did all the training herself, she took care of the
pony at the ride. Lucky, or Plucky Lucky, was a great pony. She was
11 hands and took care of her kids. Sally Ann could control her though and
that was very important to me. Sally Ann wanted to come and do the ride
with mom too and that also was important. When my son was about 7, he rode
Lucky and Sally Ann rode Starsky, a 13 hand pony. Both kids conditioned
their ponies and both kids handled the care of the animals with mom's help at
the ride. The only problem that I had was that I put heat bumps on my
horse's back from turning around so much to check up on the kids. My kids
knew how to ride, they weren't afraid to canter thru skinny tree lined trails,
and I could have turned both of them loose with other riders.
The most humorous thing that occurred was when my son was Reserve
Grand Champion of a 30 mile competitive ride(he was 7), not only did he beat
mom, but he placed higher on Lucky than his sister ever did. She was so
mad, all she could growl was, "I trained that pony and he TOOK Reserve
Champion"! Too funny, I still have the picture of that kid on my wall with
all his winnings. Sally Ann rode with me all through her high school years
except when band took priority. Shane went on to be the best crew that a
mom could ever have. Absolutely the greatest memories that I have.
Jeanie
