When I was a kid, my grandma had a pony – half Welsh, half Quarter Horse – that all the cousins rode – some of them learning to ride on her. Despite her penchant for taking rookie riders under low-hanging branches (and even horse-savvy kids if you weren’t paying attention), she was beloved. My family even had her with us in Texas for a few years, and one of my favorite stories of my youth involves an early-morning (3 a.m.-early) escape from the house, riding her bareback around the pasture and returning from the barn to the house to my dad packing heat because he thought I was a horse thief when he saw the light from my flashlight scanning the barn and thought I was casing the joint (he’d awakened when he heard me open the screen door) … ! My mom’s first move was to check my bed and my brother’s. She found me missing and exhorted my dad “don’t you scare her!” … it was an interesting end to my wanderings! (I was around 10 years old.)
My interest in training horses might have started with this pony-girl. My brother and I liked to play “cowboys and Indians,” and I’d hoist him up behind me as we escaped the cowboys … and I’d practice riding under branches, hanging off her side as low as I could, to avoid the cavalrymen’s bullets, you know. As much as she liked trying to scrape kids off her back by going under low-hanging branches, she didn’t seem to like it when it wasn’t her idea! Without trying, I apparently cured her of that particular “vice.”
She was a chunky bay with a big white spot on one hip. Her name was Sparkle. She was born on the Fourth of July. She went back to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s in Ohio when we moved to Germany (courtesy of Uncle Sam), and she lived into her 30s.
Happy Independence Day! And here’s to all the little girls (and boys) and summer rides on their ponies. 🙂
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
True story! Sparkle was a great kid-sitter! You & Jeff spent hours with her!
Happy Independence day!
She’s one of my favorite childhood memories, all by herself. … All those adventures! 🙂 Happy Independence Day!
Love this story TJ, thank you!!
Happy fourth! Karel
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Glad you liked it, Karel. 🙂 It sure made me happy to remember it. Happy Fourth of July!
😀 What a wonderful story from your childhood for Independence Day, TJ! I’m certain your experiences with Sparkle were pivotal in motivating your lifelong love for all things ponies, and your morning “flight” is also a perfect reminder of the special blessing we enjoy in this magnificent nation. Freedom. Happy Independence Day!
I was a horse-crazy kid from the get-go. Fortunately for me, my folks also had been horse-crazy as kids, and they passed it on and ensured that my brother and I grew up with horses. 😉 Happy Independence Day!
Thanks for the story! I grew up on a farm. We had a couple of big work horses. I used to sit on them sometimes. They were so gentle with this little kid. That started my love of horses of all kinds! Happy Independence Day to all!
That’s awesome! I love that, and my mom can identify with your childhood experience; her grandparents, my great-grandparents, farmed with draft horses – and also had other horses (Arabians and Quarter Horses, I just learned!). My mom still has at least one collar and hame. In my ever-so-humble opinion, the best way to grow up is with horses – of any size, pony to giant. 🙂
I was 15 when my folks “finally” got me a horse. My mom’s parents had driving horses – my gramma won with her horse & buggy at a fair (way way long ago) Have the local newspaper account of it.
Horses are just the very best EVER! Feel the same about all animals & always have, but horses? Just hold aplace in my heart.
Love your stories, TJ
Oh, that’s so cool about your gramma with her horse and buggy at the fair. My grandma (the same one who had Sparkle) was a 4-H leader for 40-plus years, and “the fair” always figured large in the lives of both my mom’s family and my dad’s (neighboring counties). My dad’s family, in addition to his and his brother’s horses, had Welsh ponies that they drove. Sweet red Rusty was the last; before he died, he was always the first thing I wanted to see when we visited and got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. 🙂
TJ – just looked up the date of that fair – It would have been 1897! The newspaper article was dated 6/18/97 & it stated that the Windsor Fair was 100 years before that! My gram died in 1964.
WOW! That’s really amazing – and that you have that newspaper clipping. What a great piece of history!
I love this story! Thank you.
It’s best told in person with lots of embellishments and pantomiming. 🙂 If Sparkle wondered why I was riding her in the middle of the night, she never objected!
What a wonderful story! I have fond memories of ponies (not mine) that I grew up riding and learning to ride on. They were so patient…but the love of my life was a pony (Welsh or Welsh X) that I rescued from a kill pen. She was sold as a ‘teenager’ but when she arrived (in GREAT shape) she was aged by the vet as ‘mature’. It didn’t matter, I loved her heart and soul. While she was just too small (12 hands) for me to ride, we went on long hikes all over the places she was boarded. People were surprised to see me walking ‘my pony’ all over the place and she was such a character. Anyone who met her, fell in love with her. She was kind to children, and distrusting of most men and some women strangers. We just had a blast for the nearly 10 years I had her. Still miss her everyday.
There are just some memories that stick with us, proof of the amazing personalities of those horses and ponies we love. I loved your story, too. 🙂
Nice.
Thanks.
You knew Miss Sparkle and what a character she was. 🙂 We were fortunate to have her in our lives!
Beautiful memories TJ🤗
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I treasure them. 🙂
Good story! And look at you now. Love of horses continues!
Oh, yes. I always say I came by my horse addiction very naturally! 😉
Thank you so much for sharing that memory with us…giving smiles and tears of joy♥️
It really is one of my favorite childhood horse memories. 🙂 I have a lot of fun telling it in person!