Lots of excitement today. The Lawrence girls, Sophie and Maggie, came to visit the ponies. Sophie is 11 and Maggie is 8. They ride over fences at home in New York and both are very good riders. This time I worked with Maggie and Laddie and Sophie and her mother, Pam, worked with Scottie. We went in the round pen but Maggie wanted to get away from the others so I put the lunge line on Laddie and we worked in front of the barn. I noticed that Maggie was having to kick Laddie sometimes to get him to go. She was mostly riding Laddie and the lunge line was just a precaution. I took the opportunity to get a switch for Maggie and explain that when Laddie did not respond to her legs, to tap him with the switch, so he would learn to respect her leg. Maggie listened real nice like I was telling her important stuff. As I watched her ride, I realized she not only knew what I was talking about, she was very skilled in this discipline. Maggie would be talking to me about a pony she rode at home, Laddie would slow down, she would use her legs, no response, WHAP!, and Maggie’s tale would go on without the slightest interruption. Laddie was a much more responsive pony after Maggie’s ride.
Sophie was not having the same luck with Scottie. Maggie and I looked over where they were just in time to see Scottie put on an excellent bucking exhibition. I do not know what the problem was. Scottie may have been protesting that 11 year olds are too big for a pony his size or he may have protested at having a rider that expected and required response from a pony. What would have shown what was going on would be for the girls to swap ponies. Sophie suggested something like that but Maggie said “No way, I’m riding Laddie”.
Sophie and Maggie ride every day at home. They love it. It was lots of fun to have good riders ride the ponies. It was lots of fun to be around girls that love horses that much.