Dear
pam,
I
wanted you to ask your mother about my horse riding problems. Please,
when you get this letter can you read it to your mother?
My horse's name is Harry and he is usually a very good listener,
but lately since my friend Sydney has been riding another horse
named Easy, Harry doesn't listen that well.
All he wants to do is follow Easy!
He even turned around just to look at him!
It would be a great help.
Thank you,
Grace
Dear Grace
Sometimes our ponies do that, too, especially Acorn who likes to be
with Snow White all the time.
My mom said that your question is really a common problem. Horses
and ponies like to stay together, because they are herd animals.
Your pony Harry needs to think of you as a herd member who is the
boss and will take care of him when there are no other horses around.
You might want to have a trainer help you with this problem if Harry
gets upset when he is alone. One thing Mom suggested was working with
Harry in an arena, walking him around in squares, circles and figure
eights in the arena.
Keep walking and making Harry do what you want even when his buddy
Easy goes out of sight and then when Easy comes back.
When Harry is good and doesn't try to follow Easy or call out to him,
pet Harry and tell him he is a good boy. Make him keep moving and
doing things that you tell him to do whether or not Easy is near by
or far away. If you make the work complicated enough Harry will have
to pay attention to you and he will forget Easy is out of sight.
Get a grownup to help you with this if you think Harry will be too
upset if he is alone.
Let me know how this works, Mom said you have to remember there are
only two questions any pony has
1. Who is the boss?
2. Where are we going?
She says if you don't answer the first one right, you don't get to
answer the second one either. ;-)
Friends,
Dear
Pam, One good thing about having your dad as a vet ya'll don't have
to pay vet bills and one good thing about having your mom as a riding
instructor you get free riding lessons. Your dad gives good advice.
Have a good weekend. Have a good Labor Day. Your friend, Cayce
Dear Cayce
We did have a nice weekend. Since school started Anna, Lulu and don't
ride as much. So this week we made a Pony Pal Plan. On Saturday we
all decided to take a longer ride to Lake Appamapog. My mom said that
sounded like a lot of fun.
She called Ms. Wiggins and made arrangements to borrow her pony and
the pony cart for the weekend.
Then Anna and Lulu came over Saturday morning and helped out at the
barn cleaning stalls.
My dad had to work in the clinic on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon
we harnessed up Ms. Wiggins pony, dad saddled JB, I saddled Lightning,
Lulu and Anna saddled up their ponies, Jack and Jill got into the
cart with my mom and we all headed out.
First we rode south on Pony Pal trail, then we turned north onto the
Wiggins Estate. We rode all the way past Ms. Wiggins' big house to
the Lake. We all got off and tied our horses, mom took out a picnic
basket she brought. We all ate sandwiches. Anna brought brownies from
the diner. Lulu brought carrots and apples for all the ponies and
horses. Jack and Jill ran around until they were really tired. Then
we packed up everything and rode back home. Anna and Lulu rode home
on Pony Pal trail.
There were a lot of tired ponies and people by the end of the day,
but it was really fun!
Friends,
