One of the distressing things about being a bookshop granny is that I am unable to find many - if any - books about ponies and their boy riders. Little girls seem to have monopolised the market as horse-lovers and it's all 'Jill's Gymkhana.' The Pullein-Thompson sisters wrote almost exclusively about girls adventures with their beloved animals. At the riding stable in the midst of all this beautiful countryside Sandy is the only male animal (a few geldings graze the fields.) When I went to pick him up yesterday he was grooming Star in a stall next to a tiny girl of six or seven years who was shoving a small but strong grey mare around. The two ponies touched noses at some point and decided they deeply disliked each other. There was a whinnying and stomping from both of them. The tiny virago looked accusingly at me and shouted 'Who started that!" I blustered about the mutual encounter but she wasn't listening, she was glowering at both the ponies, at Sandy and at me, making it very clear she wasn't taking nonsense from any of us. The term 'ankle-biter' came strongly to mind. Sandy, Star and I left the stalls hastily and made for the field with as much dignity as possible.
1 comment:
That's a truly lovely photo.
Cheers Gillian
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