Pony News, Views and Attitudes -- Vol. 2 Number 5 -- August 11-17, 2008 PAGE 1

THIS WEEK'S GAME NEWS
by Jane Crandal

Dear Pony Pals

For over a year I've been working to put together an online pony riding game.

I teach horseback riding, so I know about that part and I did go to college. College is good because it teaches students how to learn about new things. That has helped me to find out all the things that I need to do to build this interactive online riding experience.

All of you who answered the Wiggins Weekly surveys and all the game testers have really helped. Learning what Club Pony Pals members want is important.

Just like building a house, there are a lot of parts to a game. Each piece gets put together and then those pieces get connected to make a game work.

This week Jenkat, the game company that is building the game for me started doing programming of the pony chooser, where players can name and choose what their pony will look like.

The riding part of the game is also partly built. Players will be able to pick what color pony they want to ride. This is the white pony, I think it looks a lot like Snow White.

All of the other ponies are really cute, too.

When you ride up to my online barn Lightning is looking out the window.

Lyndsey Warren of Shadowhorse studios http://www.shadowhorsestudios.com/
did this portrait of Lightning for the barn's window.

Please - everyone should sign up to be a tester for the game, you will be able to try it out first and help us make it better.
Thanks for reading!

Mrs. Pastures Cookies are Prizes for
Back to School Art Contest

Wiggins Weekly Staff members Scout and Tinkerbell closely inspect a package of Mrs. Pastures cookies for horses.

Imagine how happy Lightning, Snow White, Acorn or any other pony would be to get some Mrs. Pastures's cookies!

Five lucky artists will draw a picture of a pony enjoying these treats and win a an 8 ounce package of Mrs. Pastures cookies for horses.

These crunchy cookies contain oats, wheat bran, cane molasses, rolled barley, apples and water. Ponies love them and cookies are great as training rewards.

Anyone can send in a drawing. Five winners will be announced in the Labor Day issue of the Wiggins Weekly. Deadline for entries is midnight PST August 30th, 2008.
Email entries to WebMaster@ClubPonyPals.com

Mail drawings to

Club Pony Pals
16654 Soledad Canyon Road #382
Canyon Country, CA 91387 USA

Mrs. Pastures Cookies for Horses started in 1986 when Patricia Burge wanted to make a special treat for her favorite horse Poncho. So at age 66 Patricia started Mrs Pastures Cookies for Horses. The company now sells millions of cookies all over the world!

MEMBER ADVENTURES

TALE OF THE PRIZE WINNING PONIES

Hello! I would like to tell you an adventure I had a while back.
I'm in the 4-H horse group, and we hold an annual walking horse show as a fundraiser every year. This year, me and one of my friends were elected to be ribbon girls! I was so excited, but then I realized I had to wear a dress! And church shoes! On a dirty riding ring! I still looked forward to it, because I found out it was going to be on TV and in a major horse magazine! So the day of the show, I slipped on a big beautiful dress and some white dress sandals with a heel on them. (Big mistake!) When I got there, I met my partner in the middle of the ring under a tent. We sat down by a table loaded with boxes. In the boxes were packages, and in the packages were HUGE ribbons, 1st through 5th place. Once the show started, huge walking horses came out for the first class, with big boots on their front hooves. I kept thinking they were rearing, but they were just walking with there front feet high up! At the end of the class, we knew it was time to do our job. I did the 1st place prize first. The winner came up and I was to stand by the sweaty mare and have a picture from the photographer, then hand the ribbon and plaque to the rider. I felt so tiny beside the huge beast! My friend stood out on the turf as the winners were announced, who trotted up to her. It didn't look too hard. But for the next class, I did 2nd though 5th. Hmmm, not so hard, ehh? WRONG! The horses were still in the mood for racking or whatever they had done, and you feel like your going to be trampled! It's harder to hand a ribbon up to a rider than it looks. The job is sometimes dangerous for a girl, which is all I am next to the thunderous horses. And when I say thunderous, I'm not kidding. When doing 1st place, a couple of the horses were bucking a rearing during the picture! Pretty scary. Besides my shoes blistering the fire out of me, almost being trampled and kicked, it was pretty fun.
I was very honored to be a ribbon girl, and I hope to do it next year! I was lucky enough to reward champion riders and horses. That is a true honor.
LOL, Sarah

Letter to Jeanne Betancourt

Dear Jeanne,

How many books of the Pony Pals have you written? Does it go up to 30? Or more? The highest one I have is number 22. Please e-mail me back as soon as possible. Thank you

Michelle

Dear Michelle
Jeanne Betancourt said she was really busy this week, so I thought I would write back. Jeanne wrote 44 Pony Pals books, six of them were Super Specials. The highest number book was number 38, Ponies on Parade. If you want a Pony Pals book that Scholastic doesn't offer on their website, there is a pretty complete list at the Reading Well bookstore site. That store has almost every Pony Pals book for sale.
Your friend the WebMaster,
answering for

We want your drawings or letters!
Send them in to the Wiggins Weekly.

email WebMaster@clubponypals.com

or mail them to

Club Pony Pals
16654 Soledad Canyon Rd. #382
Canyon Country, CA 91387
USA

Page 2 Weekly Survey, Pony Pals Photos & Pam Letters

Page 3 Pony Pal Art, Anna Letters

Page 4 Lulu Letters

Page 5 Reader Letters, Picture It and Thought For the Day