What a busy weekend. Bought some used tires, went to the IHOP, went to the Equine Affaire...I think the extra E is supposed to be there. That was a crazy thing, all those horses. What terrible creatures all carrying emotional and physical burdens. Also horse people are awful for the most part. But there was a great trick horse that made it quite worth the drive to the Expo. Also a girl on a pony made me cry. Here's how: we're at some kind of trick-horse world's fair hippodrome event called the Pfizer Pfantasia (a real Pfizer Pfantasia--no pills) and they roll out this therapy horse set. All these little kids in pajamas with various developmental issues come out to the arena and lay in beds, then this music plays and an announcer talks about how important therapy horses are to kids. Then Gordon Lightfoot's Pony Man starts playing and a bunch of people lead in horses. The kids all get on and ride around in various patterns and even though Lightfoot on his own can draw tears, I manage to keep it together. Then they all line up and some lady interviews each kid before he or she rides the horse off stage (the horse still being led by helper-people). She asks each one what riding the horse means to them, and they all give great endearing answers--especially the one kid that grabs the mic from her and goes on about random thoughts until she can steal the mic back from him. One girl says she feels beautiful when she's on the horse, and that's pretty much it for me...but then they get to the last, littlest girl and she's on the smallest pony in the world. "And this is Lynn [Or something...], and you're usually very shy aren't you?" "Yeah" "But are you shy on the horse" "no" "and what's your favorite thing to do?" "trot" "Well let's cheer her on and see if she can trot off stage" And then the littlest girl trots off stage on the smallest pony and my heart melts into uncharted emotional waters.
But here's a song about pretentious types:
Pete,
ReplyDeleteGlad you went to Equine Affaire. Why do you think "horse people" are bad? Personally, I think, just as in all segments of society, there are good horse people and not so good horse people. I've been around my share of both in all the various sectors of humanity!
Theraputic riding is totally awesome and accomplishes so much more than conventional physical and occupational therapy as well as social skills training. I have someone very dear and close to my heart who participated for several years and absolutely thrived. By the way Pete, I swear the horses also enjoy it just as much as the kids!
My oldest daughter was also a bit of an equestrianne in her teens and did actually ride English style and was in a musical horse show. She and two others danced their horses to the Shania Twain song "Any Man of Mine." Truth! It was really neat to watch.
Hope your meal at IHOP was a good one. Also hope you found some bargains while shopping. Pat
P.S.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention......my youngest daughter rode for a while also. She actually rode a retired "trick pony" who once in awhile decided to perform a trick while she was just trotting along. Scared the heck out of her once to the point where she has never ridden again. She ended up on the ground HARD. The man who trained him to "trick" as a young boy had to get on this crazy pony every once and a while to redirect his thoughts on performing!
All in all, all three of my daughters have been, at one time or another, equestriannes. All know that horses are to be respected and one must always keep in mind that no matter how good you are at riding or leading your horse thjey weigh several hundred pounds more than you and you must respect that fact and be careful!
Lightfoot's Pony Man makes my father cry. You appear to be a stronger man.
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