Saturday, March 12, 2011

Little girl with big girl pants

Between the braids and the ribbons and the cute face, you might not think this little rider would be such a tough gal. She's got on her big girl pants here...



17 comments:

  1. What a doll. I'm so glad that she didn't get hurt and seemed to have a cheerful attitude. Bad pony. No carrots for you!

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  2. She was a trooper! She acted better than most adults do!!

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  3. She's tough and strong, but Timmy is a crafty little b******! Bad Timmy! I itch to get on and straighten him out - I hate dirty stoppers!

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  4. Lovely pony, but naughty. I remember doing that kind of recovery on my pony way back. The girl is real game but needs to be a little bigger to get his naughtiness in line. I was thinking, "if only her legs were longer". Nice job.
    There's a clip on youtube somewhere of Geoff Billinton doing a class for kids. One pony is really out of line, but it's the rider who can't handle it properly. Billington hopped on and demonstrated and the pony did fine. The best pony buy I ever made was an 11 hand welsh who was a marvel on trails and in the ring, but the kids couldn't handle him so I had a great ride and pet until he died. And I am 5'8". :-)

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  5. What a little stinker that pony is! Unless there was something scary over there that I couldn't see, there was no excuse for the refusals.

    The little girl had a lot of guts and tried, but it's pretty clear she was in a bit over her head in dealing with the problem. Good ponies should just pack the kids around, not quit on them...

    Hope he/she gets some remedial training from someone who can ride through the refusals...

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  6. Awww...I'm not a kids/ponies/pink bows kind of woman, but one got me. That kid's got moxie! Good for her! And thanks for sharing.

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  7. The rider is cute and has lots of potential, but she is still mostly a passenger. She is floating out of the saddle in canter for the second line, which I am sure gave the pony mixed signals and contributed to his stop. Her stirrups are also different lengths. Her left knee has more bend than the right, indicating a shorter stirrup, and this leaves her right leg nearly swinging in canter and over the first fence. The instability is magnified by the pony's lean in right lead canter, but he could also be leaning more because his rider is taking him that way. The stirrup check should have been squared away by an adult before she entered the ring and makes a big difference when you are a feather-weight!

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  8. What a tough kid! I hope she doesn't get discouraged! She's got a lot of potential.

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  9. What a good rider! And so determined. I think I would have fallen off. That was a dirty trick for a pony.

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  10. Cute kid and great to see she didn't lose her temper and throw a tanty - but mum or helper should have boosted her back on and led them over the fence until the pony didn't blink.

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  11. I'd like to have been able to get on the pony after he dumped her and show him what for ...

    If it hadn't been at a show, I think almost EVERY capable rider in the vicinity of a mile would be thinking the same thing ...

    The. Pony. Would. Have. Gone. Over. Or. Else.

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  12. Val, you shouldnt be so hard on her. She is a young child, probably still in her beginning years and she is trying hard on a pony who is naughty. She has guts though and tons of potential.

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  13. That is one classy little girl. She's going to grow up to be a fine rider, and will laugh at this some day. I think there would have been blubs from me at that age...

    And yes, FriesianX, I would LOVE to get on Timmy there and sort him out! He is a cutie, and I love ponies, but dirty stops are NO good. A couple of spanks and some adult leg and I think he would see the light and go round nicely.

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  14. I agree with Val. The girl is game and I like her sporting attitude, but the pony is too much for her at this time. I bet it's a pretty nice pony. Plenty of ponies have no patience for mixed signals. Maybe the parents bought too much pony for their little princess. The girl should be on a smaller and/or kinder pony for now. Then graduate to that cutie pie.

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  15. She is so cute! Loved the ribbons in her hair. That was one wide pony too, she was practically doing a split to sit on him.

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  16. @Checkmark115:
    I acknowledged her potential, but I also chose to objectively evaluate her ride, especially because it ended in a fall. As an instructor and middle school teacher, I have learned to play it straight rather than sugar-coat.

    Besides, plenty of comments already played the "sweet girl, bad pony" card. I wanted to offer another perspective and I happen to love challenging ponies!

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Hi Guys, Your comments are valued and appreciated -- until recently I never rejected a post. Please note that I reserve the right to reject an anonymous post.