PrintThe pony is gone. Dara is happily situated at EvenStride, and the girl visited her last weekend. I was not allowed to go, home with my Percoset, the broken hand deemed unprepared for a four-hour jaunt to Massachusetts.
Samantha went down with another horse show mom, Melissa, who spent the day with the EvenStride horse show secretary, learning the ins and outs of Show Pro, the software we will use at our 2010 Missy Ann Stables horse shows. The girl was able to ride Dara and chat with the kids who have been taking lessons on her. Dara is being appropriately coddled and spoiled—continuing to receive the princess treatment she has come to demand from the humans around her.
Mom is recovering from Dara’s departure. Due to work and the hand, I didn’t go to the barn for four days. It felt like longer. When I returned after the hand-bite drama, everything was different. I instinctively drifted over to the familiar stall where I was greeted by a lovely bay horse, rather than a demanding bay pony.
Samantha was preparing for her first lesson on Mondavi, the horse we are now leasing. Had you asked me a year ago to describe a scenario where we would be able to lease the girl a horse like this, the only few I would be able to describe would involve winning the lottery without purchasing a ticket or the life insurance pay-out from my untimely demise. Horse karma brings all manner of unexpected experiences, this being the most pleasant of a lifetime.
Mondavi is a 16.2 hand, 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. His owner is Michelle Osgood, inventor and owner of One Knot Hairnet. Mondavi has been leased out to lucky girls throughout New England over the past seven or so years, and he has traveled up and down the east coast, stopping at every horse show along the way. A few years ago, Michelle considered retirement for Mondavi. She consulted a horse communicator who told her that Mondavi’s response was this: “Where’s my kid?” He knows his job is to mold young riders into sensitive, confident partners. He has no interest in going back to mom’s house. He added: “When’s the next show? Who is my next kid and when will she bring the treats? Mom, I don’t want you to ride me, go find me another kid!”
Samantha has loved Mondavi from the moment she met him. It’s not hard to understand the attraction. For starters, he’s gorgeous and his ego is rather, shall we say, enormous. I would count my blessing when Samantha would come home and tell me about how he could zip up her coat, and he would delight in doing it as many times as possible as fast as he could. When I was 12, I would have rather stuck a hot poker in my eye than talk to my mother about anything. Sorry Mom! I know, I know, many of you are saying “Oh you just wait!”
