Go West ... ern

Our pony club declared that they were having a "Western Day".  The kids were going to experience everything Western - Western riding, videos of Western horses, etc.  Of course, we were encouraged to dress up too.

I have no idea what possessed me.  A Western shirt and a bandana would have done just fine.  But no.  For some reason, I, not my lovely daughter attending Pony Club, but I ... I got all carried away and decided that I had to make some chaps for Sabina.  Initially I had visions of brown leathery chaps, but imagination very quickly took me towards pink chaps with tassles.  (I LOVE tassles.)  For two days I was like a whirlwind possessed (or should that be tornado possessed?).

Two days - that's how long it took to buy the material (and tassles), surf the internet only to find that free patterns for chaps are hard to come by (but x-rated sites are not!  sheesh!), create a pattern out of paper ("Mama, I'm not going to wear those, they will rip"), cut the material (oh, do be careful, there's no going back), and then stitch it all together (they fit, yay!).

The final product was a hit, but it took me a week to recover from my whirlwind effort.

Horses have feelings too

Tornado is a slightly cheeky pony, and one that doesn't always love the attention of his devoted five year old owner.

Putting his ears back and running away from the little girl are frequent occurrances, but he has also been driven to extremes of biting and kicking out. Of course, when these things happen, Mum steps in to call truce and both the little girl and the little pony get some re-education, as most of the time, both are at fault in some way.

I guess the pony could argue his case that "she started it", but ... well ... whatever.

Today Sabina and I head out soon after breakfast and saddle up Tornado. Sabina never eats very well for breakfast, and normally I am loaded with snacks. Not so today. Fatal mistake.

By the time we have the pony brushed and saddled, Sabina is out of energy. Some small tiny insignificant little issue sets her off, and bingo, she's in tears. I try and soothe her with words.

Tornado lets out a big sigh, walks over to Sabina and cuddles his head into her chest. Ever so gently. It works like a magic healing balm. Sabina, overwhelmed, gently cuddles his head, wipes her tears, and is all smiles again. Ready to ride.

If I hadn't seen it myself, I would have never believed it.