Another funny memory. I could never afford to buy my children expensive made ponies or horses, so they had to ride GREEN horses and make them, themselves. I always made sure these green animals were KIND and for the most part, well behaved and managable And because of this, they became quite proficient on most horses. And most of the green horses, suitable for young riders...not only manageable but sound and sane. And they usually came straight out of the south west. And because of this they were unaccustomed to water unless it was in a bucket. One day I headed out onto the Greenwich bridle trails with both Wynne and Margot. Wynne was good enough to handle her own horse but Margot was riding a new palomino pony directly off a cattle truck full of horses from the West. As we had to cross a busy main road to get to the Greenwich trails I put Margot and her pony on a lead line. Margot was only about seven. And he piny behaved beautifully. We slowly wended our way through the woods and down the fairly steep hill and finally got to the river which at that time was about knee deep with icy cold clear water. The other horses were used to crossing the stream and had no problem with it. But as Margot and I started to cross the stream , we got to about the middle of the stream and the pony had willingly followed my horse, the pony suddenly stopped and plunged her head fully under water....up to her eyes...and just resolutely stood there with most of her head submerged! I was yelling at Margot Pull her head up! Pull her head up but Margot was no match for the pony. And I was trying with all my strength with the lead line to pull her head up as well. And I could see the ponys eyes going a little out of focus. And her legs were getting shaky. And she was starting to blow bubbles! Finally with every ounce of strength I managed to pull her head up out if the water, and we all stood there for a few minutes, breathing heavily. Since it had taken us about an hour to get down to the stream I figured it was time to head back to Stratford. And the first thing out of George Chalouxs mouth was How in the Hell did you get that ponys WHOLE HEAD WET? (And he often also used to say loudly Dont swear! It sounds like Hell. Such a character, but such a fine horseman.) But after we dried the pony off and recovered, we laughed about it. And it still makes me laugh
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 00:07:27 +0000