Emma and Sam

My name is Emma and I am 13 years old. I have been riding with Kali and Les for about 8 months. Before I became a PonyPro, I had ridden a couple times on the pony rides at fair and was lead on a horse when I was young. The first time I ever rode by myself was on my friend’s horse, but that was nothing like what I do now. What I rode like then was with a harsh bit and just in a side pasture on my friend’s farm, but now I ride without a bit in an actual arena and I enjoy it so much!

At PonyPros, I started with a pony named Thistle. She is a Section A Welsh pony, 11 years old, buckskin and 12’1h tall. When Thistle first came to the ranch, I saw her and knew I wanted to work with her. My trainer, Kali, told me she was nothing like I ever worked with before. She said that she had heard that Thistle was very difficult to manage and had never had any training, but that didn’t stop me!

I remember the first day I worked with Thistle. She hated be touched, so I rubbed her all over and eventually, she let me lay on her back and slide off her rump. Then I remember actually sitting on her back - it was so fat! She was a pasture pony before she came to the PonyPros. When I finally asked her to walk off, she wouldn’t move unless the two other ponies that were getting ridden for the first time also were with her. We came up with nick names for them - we called them “the smore” because one was a liver Chestnut so he was chocolate, and one was white, so he was the marshmallow. Then thistle was the gram cracker because she is buckskin!

After I worked with Thistle for a while, I started to work with one of Kali’s ponies that she owns. His name is Sam. Sam is a 13h Section B Welsh gelding. He is bay with 4 socks and a stripe. With Sam, I work on my focus, because on Thistle, I wasn’t that focused. Thistle would just go when you wanted her to, but with Sam you have to be very focused for him to cooperate with you. When I am with Sam, I feel really happy, but when I am on Sam, I feel like I am in a fantasy. I am a princess and he is my trusty steed. Sam makes me feel happy and he helps me learn so much when I am riding him. Each time I ride him, I learn something new about him or about me and riding. He is so funny - he knows how to do a bunch of tricks, and he is a silly pony - he likes to show off for people. He loves to perform and show everyone what he can do. I like playing with him. If I didn’t have horses in my life I don’t know what I would do. I think my life would fall apart! So I am glad to have Kali and Les in my life. Without them I wouldn’t have horses in my life...Well, I probably would, but it wouldn’t be as fun as it is now!