Dan and Em’s Blog

I see a lot of people who are interested in purchasing a Chincoteague Pony from the Pony Penning and auction, but they really aren’t sure about what’s involved in buying one.  I’d like to answer some of those questions — here, I want to address the Pony Penning purchases specifically.  As far as purchasing a pony from a breeder (either a young one, or an adult) it’s a far different scenario, so I’ll address that separately at another time.  When is the Pony Penning?  Are the ponies really wild?  Can I buy an adult pony, or just a baby?  How much do they cost?  How hard are they to train?

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Starting in the summer of 2009, I am going to be starting a new business venture.  I am going to be offering my services to people wishing to purchase a Chincoteague Pony.  I was recently thinking about things I could offer that other people can’t.  Looking at Cricket, and realizing what a special and amazing pony she is, I think I really have something to offer in this venue.  Buying a Chincoteague Pony can be daunting.  Especially for the novice horse person, the experience of attending the auction, selecting a pony and getting it home can be overwhelming.  That’s where I can help.

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Like every other horse-crazy child, every Christmas (and every birthday, and any other gift-giving occasion) from the time I was 3 years old, the first thing on my list was “A PONY”.  Like almost every horse-crazy kid, I never got one.   Although with each passing year, and each calm explanation from my parents about why it wasn’t going to happen, my resolve and hope never faded.  I still held out hope that there would be a pony under the tree (maybe not literally).  I asked for a pony every year from the time I was 3 until I moved out of the house and went to college.

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Ellie is my 9 year old Arabian mare.  Arabians often enjoy a reputation for being flighty, spooky, unstable, unpredictable over-reactors.  Ellie can be all of these things.  However, she also shares the other reputation that Arabians have — for being kind, sweet, smart, brave, hard working, dedicated, strong, fast, loyal and kind spirited companions.

I went out to ride her today.  I was actually going to ride Cricket – that was my plan.  But when I got to the barn, as soon as I parked my car and opened the door, Ellie was at the gate, whinnying her welcome to me.  She totally warmed my heart, and I decided I’d ride her today instead (although I’m not sure that was the outcome she was hoping for).  I went to get her, and brought her up to the barn to groom her.  They’re building a couple of new stalls out at the barn, so there was a good deal of commotion  — nail guns, circular saws, trucks driving around — in addition to the normal commotion of an active barn — horses and riders going about their regular activities.

I can never be quite sure which Ellie I’m going to get at a given time.  I was prepared for the flighty one — I get nervous around nail guns and circular saws — but I was pleasantly surprised.  She was quiet and relaxed while I groomed her and tacked her up, even as an air compressor came on loudly not far away.  I brought her to the arena and she stood with me while I took care of the gates and arranged some poles on the ground.  Then I mounted up and started the ride.  Mostly, she was very well behaved, but she was very nervous about one side of the arena.  On the other side of the fence, there were some poles and jump standards arranged.  They have been there for some time, but they’ve been rearranged since the last time I rode her in the arena.  So this was scary.  Saws, nail guns, moving vehicles – those are fine, but don’t make a pile of lumber!  Certainly, I can think of some good evolutionary reasons for horses to be wary of a pile of wood that had changed since their last pass through the area (something could be hiding in or behind it, for example) but it really made me realize something about horses and people and our reaction to perceived threats.

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Howrse?  Yes, Howrse.  No, it’s not spelled wrong.  It’s an online horse game that I have come to be quite obsessed about.

Here’s how it happened . . . I actually followed a link from this very page — it was an ad that Google put on our blog.  I thought the name was odd, so I decided to see what it was all about.

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My Chincoteague Pony, Wish Upon a Star, first came to me as a wild little weanling.  To look at her now, Cricket, as she is known around the barn, you’d never know she started her life as unruly and untrusting as they come.  I first saw her in a pen full of other wild ponies at the 2001 Chincoteague Pony Roundup.  She stood out to me because of the grace with which she moved.  She and her mother were startled and trotted across the pen.  She didn’t move like the rough around the edges critter she appeared to be — she was elegant.

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. . . but you always get what you asked for.

This is a principle I first learned when riding and interacting with horses.  I started riding as a small child (8 years old) and this rule about horses was one I learned to help me deal with my frustrations when I couldn’t get the horse to do what I wanted.  I don’t remember who first said it to me, but it made me realize that the problem wasn’t in the response, but the question. 

Horses don’t speak English (or French, Chinese, Farsi or Gaelic).  That’s not to say they can’t be conditioned to associate certain words with certain items or actions — they can be trained to come when called, to respond to voice commands — but they don’t come to the party with an a priori knowledge of the language.  They are being asked to respond to questions they don’t understand.  We do what we can to imbue certain words with meaning, and a wise horseperson will work with the horse’s own language (mainly physical and spatial) to hedge their bets.

There are still, however, many misunderstandings.  It is the very basis on which we learn to interact together. 

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These are things I recommend without reservation. Enjoy!

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