Sarah has suggested I do a Guest Blog while her typing hand is incapacitated.
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| New Forest Pony: Patsy with Mum, Pat |
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| Patsy, a true roan, had a P brand on her bottom |
By way of introduction I am her Mom and therefore most things are my fault, and this probably includes her being horse-mad. I was not brought up in a horsey family myself but remember being in my parent's shop and seeing some children ride past on ponies. My immediate reaction was 'I want to do that' and I never gave up asking for riding lessons till I got them at seven, or asking for a pony for a long time till I got one at eleven. I once mentioned to my father that a family we knew had four children and they all had ponies and so they must be very rich. He said they must be very poor now and he didn't want to be the same. But he gave in eventually.
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| A little bit pregnant but Teddy's owner didn't notice until I was eight months gone; Sarah was born a month early! |
Sarah started riding much earlier than me. In fact before she was born she was often on board a horse with me and perhaps the motion entered her consciousness. She started riding properly at four and we want for a regular hack out with a riding school with Sarah on a lead rein. Then a wonderful riding holiday in Cornwall which reaĺly set her up. The only problem was coming home and leaving the beautiful pony which had been hers for the week.
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| Suki left stirrup leathers, and occasionally Sarah, hanging from the odd branch. |
It was not so long afterwards that we bought a horse for me and a pony for Sarah. We had lots of fun with the horses and I have some lovely memories of our rides out on Smokey, Thunder, Bonnie, and all the other horses we had later. And we managed to get into quite a few scrapes which I'll describe later if Sarah lets me contribute to the blog again!
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| Smokey, the day that we bought him... |
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| Taking part in the Sherriff's Ride a few years later; Thunder and I are at the back. |
