Birthday Present

I’m writing this on my birthday. 

Probably 60 years ago I asked for a pony for my birthday. I’m sure I asked more than once. I’m sure I burned my parents’ ears off begging for a pony. Since at the time we were living on a quarter acre of land with no room for a pony, it’s not surprising they said no. 

To be fair, a few years after that we moved to a farm and we did get two horses. City slickers. Horses. Lethal combination. We’re lucky we all survived (including the horses). Y’know, the more you learn, the less you know. Have you noticed that? When we got those first horses I thought we knew everything we needed to in order to keep equines. I was 14.

Like I said, we’re lucky we survived. Stories of those horses will fill this blog for years to come.

THIS blog, however, is about me. And a pony. This year, for my birthday, I got a pony.

The pony. Chancie the mare in the background, wondering why her gelding is suddenly interested in this interloper.

If it was 60 years ago, I would have no patience with this pony, and I’d probably be afraid of her. She’s big, for a pony (big enough that I’ll be able to hop on for a ride now and then). And she’s been acting pretty cray cray. It’s not My Friend Flicka, that’s for sure. My younger human self would have been all “What’s the matter with you?” My older, “I don’t know a smidgeon about what I need to about horses, and let’s look at it from her point of view” self, says, “well, here’s a few reasons…”

She’s 14 and after two years at the place where she was born, in the mountains surrounded by trees, she went to Northern California, where she also lived in (smaller) mountains surrounded by trees. 

Here’s where she is now. See any trees? There are a few by the house, but they were planted. This is rolling hill country rather than tree country. Can you imagine how vulnerable she feels?

Trees by the house. The opening in the side of the barn, with a horse’s butt sticking out, is her shelter.

She’s had horse companions, many of them bigger than her because she lived on a homestead and there were some sturdy Belgian mares who were the engines that made things go on that land. That was going to be Libby’s job as well, but it turned out the grandkids had other ideas. For the last year she’s been alone, with her humans on a smaller piece of land. In the trees. The grandkids have all grown up, the homestead sold. Her world got smaller.

We have four other horses, two geldings and two mares. Libby is OBSESSED with these horses. She is in her own space, while the other four are split between two pastures, two and two. The mares think she’s an interloper - she’s cute and in season, to boot. The geldings think she’s a gift to geldings. There’s a lot of squealing and kicking on everyone’s part. Lucky for us we have horse safe fencing and no one has connected with anyone else, unless you count Phineas the gelding running off LiLi the mare because he’d rather court Libby the pony. The new girl with the long eyelashes is getting a lot of attention.

Phineas to Libby: “You’re SO CUTE. Look at how I can crest my neck. Impressed?” Libby: “Nope.”

Food? Water? What’s that? Shelter? Too far away from the action. We had to get creative so she’d eat and drink.

We are total strangers. Remember, she’s spent the last twelve years with two other people and some grandkids, and she doesn’t know us from a hoofprint in the sand. 

Here’s a measure of how awesome this pony is. After a 24 hour-ride in one trailer with a 3-4 hour ride in another trailer to get to the second trailer, Libby got off the van and walked calmly down our driveway to the barn. Was she seeing the horses in the distance? Yes. Were we going in the right direction? Yes. The thing is, she listened. She walked into the barn, which is a huge space and I’m sure looked like a huge cave after the sunshine of outside, with nary a pause, strolled calmly through the barn looking around, and it was only after the halter came off and she realized she had FOUR NEW FRIENDS that she came (only slightly) unglued.

In 48 hours she’s squealed and kicked at all the horses (and they’ve done the same), showed off by trotting along the fence line (wish I had a video of that - what a beautiful trot she has!), realized there was water and hay in the shelter, and has even allowed herself to be out of visual range of the other horses while she gets used to the pigeons flying above her head and the wild bunnies running under her feet in the shelter (which she very briefly visited a time or two). That’s a lot of adjustment in a very short space of time.

When we come out to feed she’ll come over. Mostly a drive-by, but she’s getting her mind back.

Maybe I’ll have a bit of that hay I see in your hand (as Phin and LiLi work things out in the background).

These are HUGE changes for this pony, and we are doing what we can to make it easier for her. I’ll be spending time with her just hanging out, probably sitting in a chair reading a book, safely out of the kick zone the horses have established. She has a new halter coming so we’ll try that on. In a few days we may try some leading and maybe even a little lunging (her previous caretaker said she likes doing that). 

She has a way of pursing her lips that reminds me so much of my Friesian beloved, Wilma, who has been gone now for five years. She is beautiful, independent, loving and giving. We are so happy to have her in our herd.

We have a long way to go, and plenty of time to get there. We want her to be happy. She will show us what we need to do to help her continued adjustment. We are listening and watching, very closely. We do have boundaries and when she crosses them, we let her know, firmly and fairly. But mostly it’s about what she needs. She’s asking a lot of questions (“Who ARE you?”  Is a big one, as well as “Are you my leader?” And then the ever present “Are you STILL my leader?” Wilma would ask me that. Every. Day.)

With any animal in a new space, watching, listening and answering their questions is huge part of the adjustment. It takes time, and it takes L-O-V-E(tm).

I got lucky and have the best pony in the world. Happy birthday to ME.