Six on board: Twinkle

Danielle has a riding lesson every Saturday. Normally, we arrive a few minutes before 11:00 am, Danielle grooms and saddles up her pony and begins her lesson. This Saturday however, began with an interesting chore. Because the pony that Dani has been riding no longer boards at the barn, she has begun riding on another pony. Twinkle does not live at the stables but boards on a farm about 1 kilometer away. Last Saturday, it was Dani's task to walk Twinkle from her home to the stable - about a 20 minute walk. I know next to nothing about horseflesh and have never walked, let alone ridden, a pony. But Dani had walked Twinkle down the road with her riding instructor the week before and knew how to get her safely to the stable.

Before we left to pick up Twinkle, I carefully punched her riding instructor's phone number into my cell phone. I had visions of Twinkle breaking lose from us and galloping off into the unknown, Dani and I staring mournfully at her departing behind. That, of course, was a worst-case scenario. My lesser fears included being slobbered on, stepped on or side-swiped by her hairy, tangled mane. In any case, I figured that this would be walk on the "wild side" and that I would regret it if I didn't record it for posterity. So I took my camera too.

Twinkle was in an amenable mood and walked obediently along beside Danielle. However, we got only as far as the end of the driveway before she came to an abrupt stop.

She had spotted a smorgasbord of fresh spring grass. Her head went down and she began to eat. Danielle, mindful of the time, tried to urge her along. Reluctantly, Twinkle's head came up and she plodded onward.