“Dan, this pony is so ugly. I am afraid the kids will get scared,” I complained to my husband on the end of the line.
“I feel that God is impressing to me that you should go ahead and buy him,” he said.
My husband knows nothing about horses, he just puts up with them because he loves me. I was on a horse hunting spree to help teach riding lessons, and I landed at this farm with one ugly pony.
The woman who was selling him was a horse dealer. She told me that he did not like to canter and she told me a price I could not refuse. With that, I took this ugly large pony home with me, unsure of his future. He certainly was not a horse that I would have chosen, if it had not been my husband insisting that I purchase him.
We always re-name all horses and ponies that come here and there was quite excitement over what his name should be. The kids, parents, and instructors came up with great names, but one of my autistic children came up with the perfect name- Milkshake.
Milkshake is a Pony of America. He is white with small black specks throughout his coat. Hence the name Milkshake was perfect.
Milkshake had a larger than life attitude. He was strong and he would just bulge at his shoulder and my students were too weak to discipline him. So all of the instructors and myself were constantly on him and working out his many kinks.
As time went by, he became accustomed to this spoiled life. Carrots with the tops on, apples drizzled with molasses, warm bran mash in the winter, fans in the stalls in the summer, and a growing fan club that just adored him. He learned to jump, and he did it quite well. His trot is so smooth, that a rider can sit or post, either one is comfortable and smooth. His canter is so slow and rhythmic that he teaches all beginners. But his most endearing quality is that he is so versatile. He changes to meet each one of his riders and their needs. For beginners, he is very slow, waiting for the correct aids to direct him. For advanced riders, he will jump a course of 2’6″ with a flying lead change.
We took him to a show, and we were uncertain as to how he would act, but he was a professional. He even lined up to face the judge. He was smart, capable, and caring. He was and is the perfect lesson horse. Though I think he is perfect, I did not know that he was gathering a fan club outside of my farm too. The show world was noticing him too. He even won “Horse of the Horse Show” because of his versatility. That’s when I would hear whisperings from other competitors that Milkshake was here. Offers for me to sell him to their children started pouring in, but I would tell them that Milkshake was not for sale.
Milkshake is a pony that has too much personality. Yesterday I was cleaning out the tack room and I had Milkshake in the riding ring, because he is on a diet. That’s why I was shocked when I turned around and there he was, in the tack room with me. He kept nudging me to itch his scratchy spot- he has many, and to pay attention to him.
This sums up Milkshake perfectly, a true people lover because I thinks that he really does believe that he is a person and not a pudgy white pony.
Do you have a pony or horse that has a little too much personality? Please Share, I LOVE your comments!
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What a great looking pony love it when they have some personalty are rescue mare loved my son and would follow him every where and we would often find them in the stable listening to music together http://neilirving73.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/kelly-likes-joe-bonamassa/
I know horses seem to bring the best out in children. I used to teach a very troubled young lady. Her parents had money to spare and after a few lessons they bought a spirited pony from their “trainer” but it promptly threw her and she broke her arm and now she was scared to death to ride. They ended up coming to me to see if I could instill confidence in their daughter to ride again. It had helped so much in calming her down that they were desperate to find a pony that would give her the self-esteem and focus prior to her fall. Hence- the pony Pro, he was a non-descriptive pony with very plain features, but he fell in love with her and she fell in love with him. He was so calm and so patient. He would catch her rather than hurt her and she learned to trust in a horse again. They brought him to their stable and I would go to their home and teach her. One day she was unusually slow coming out of the barn. When he came out he had so many tiny ribbons tied to his forelock, mane and tail that they drug on the ground. She told me that he was a rainbow pony. He WAS a rainbow pony that day. He gave me one look, I knew he was not happy but he enjoyed the time she spent with him because this took hours to do. I love stories about horses- keep rescuing those horses and in turn you are rescuing a human too.
Very true we hav found the horses hav rescued us as a family and given us direction and something productive for us as to discuss, learn from and work towards
A horse you can trust with your kids is beautiful and priceless!
He is priceless. He is always the one to knicker to the kids, lick their hands, and make funny faces when he is being scratched on his itchy spots. He enjoys their laughter as much as I do and he goes out of his way to make each child smile and giggle with delight over his quirky behavior.
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I have yet to see an ‘ugly pony’ and this one ain’t it!
You are right! He has grown on me. His impatience in my feeding him has been met with his feed bucket being tossed to me. He likes to untie himself and then hold the lead in his mouth and take himself for a walk. His most endearing quality is to make each child feel invincible. For that, I will be eternally grateful for his willingness to put up with the screams of a child tormented by Autism to an anxious child that is scared to death to ride but wants to so badly. He is my “go to horse”, because he is always steady, always caring and willing to help in any way that he can because he loves the kids as much as I do. So what could possibly be ugly about that.
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