all the pretty ponies

Just thought I'd take a few minutes to introduce our equine herd. The little dude on the left is J's Shetland Pony, an 8 year old bundle of adorable who acts more like a lapdog than a horse. Other than following the kids around, his favorite thing to do is grabbing my hat off my head when I bend over to look at his feet. Which happens frequently, as he's had foot problems as of late. More accurately, he's had metabolic problems than have resulted in foot problems. In any case, he's retired from the kids riding him around the pasture, at least while I get his medical problems under control. J's sort of outgrown him at this point anyway. This little guy was our solution to wanting to get J into a therapeutic riding program -- when I saw the cost of the program, I said well, heck, we live on a farm, we can BUY a pony for less. Perhaps an impulsive move, but a good one. Not only has J benefited greatly from riding, but bringing this little guy home opened the door to fulfilling my lifelong ambition of owning my own horse, after spending a huge amount of my childhood riding other people's horses. I'm honestly not sure WHY it took me so long to get my own horse. I guess I just sort of got used to NOT owning a horse. In any case, after we got this little dude for J, I got myself a gift:

This is my 17 year old Connemara mare. She's black, so she's a little hard to photograph, particulary in a snowy scene, but trust me, she's just gorgeous. And sweet. And just an all around GOOD horse. I only wish I had more time to ride her, but she doesn't seem to mind either way. She was given to me by a woman whose daughter used to trail ride with her, but has since decided to pursue other hobbies. Funny thing is, though, despite having been a kid's pony, she doesn't really like kids. The popular theory is that she was some child's hunter-jumper pony and she was mistreated by that child, so she hence developed a distate for kids. It's too bad, because Zoo Boy has pretty much claimed her as his own, even though she takes off for parts unknown every time he walks into the pasture. She's not dangerous with the kids, she'd just rather avoid them. So I let her. Which bring us to our most recent equine addition:

This is J's new pony. She's a rescue, supposedly from a really disgusting situation (they had to put on chest-waders to make it through the muck to remove her from her former home, the thought of which just makes me sick). She was pregnant, so she went to one farm to have her foal (must have been a REALLY cute foal, because she's a REALLY cute pony). Then she went to another farm where she gave Kinderides to special needs kids. Then she came to live with us! They'd been trying to find the right family for her for awhile now, but she's sort of particular about who she likes. She instantly fell in love with us, and the feeling was mutual. She's already extremely bonded to me despite only having been here about a month. She's really peppy for her age, which is somewhere in the late teens/early twenties range, and she moves right out with J aboard her, which he loves. (Big change from the little guy, who needs to be coaxed along and begged to trot). Zoo Boy has yet to agree to ride her, insisting that she's not HIS pony (despite the fact that he's ridden J's other pony without such hesitation). J has assured him that he'll share and he can ride her too, and I've assured him that when he's ready to ride, I'll be happy to get him his own pony if he wants. (I mean, 3 horses, 4 horses, what difference does it really make??) He suggested maybe an elephant, bringing up the fact that SOME people ride elephants. And camels. I assured him that he could have a PONY when he's ready to ride something. For now his response is "no thank you".