This is from my Blue Ridge Pony Blog. It is very typical of how my life seems to roll. Enjoy.
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In the past I have completely enjoyed pony shopping. But this time around it has been more like shopping for pants (ladies will know what I mean). None of these ponies fit right!
I found one pony that sounded really promising, 13.2h, stocky, fully under saddle, but mostly used on trail. After a few emails back and forth and some additional photos, I called the owner. She seemed pretty honest and told me he was an adult’s pony, and has some get up and go but has been out of work for a bit.
Perfect.
We discussed me coming with my trailer since it was a four hour drive to reach her farm and arranged for me to come up Saturday evening.
Saturday morning she sent me the address and I was very excited.
I headed out at 2pm that day, straight after working the farmers market, with trailer in tow, and traveled the first two hours to Hagerstown, Maryland to meet my friend Lindsey, who was kind enough to join me on the adventure.
She pulled into the mall parking lot and jumped out of her car to climb into my truck. I popped the key into the ignition and… click click click.
hum. That’s not good.
After a second unsuccessful attempt, we climbed back out and I popped the hood.
I admit, a full wave of total panic flooded over me.
Lindsey asked if I had jumper cables and I am completely embarrassed to admit that no, I did not have jumper cables in that truck. I really hope my dad is not reading this because he would be extremely disappointed in me. If you are reading this dad, I have remedied this and now have jumper cables in both trucks!
Lindsey, keeping her cool, told me she was going to run around the corner and pick some jumper cables up and would be right back. She calmly instructed me, “deep breath, Ill be right back”.
I stood there for about 20 seconds, looking lost with the hood up, and a very good samaritan pulled up and offered his help.
Thank everything that is good in this world for honest to god good people.
He hopped out, jumper cables in hand, popped his hood and connected my truck to his car. Then, as if that was not fantastic enough, he whipped out a battery tester and confirmed that my battery was indeed, in the crapper. After a few minutes we got my truck started and Lindsey and I headed across the parking lot and got the battery replaced.
The whole ordeal from truck not starting to us being back on the road with a new battery took 40 minutes. Not bad!
Ouch
We had called the pony owner lady from the repair station and left a voice mail about our car trouble and delayed arrival time. And we were now back on the pony adventure road, laughing and having a truly ruckus time. We found ourselves traversing some crazy back roads, going through 25 mile an hour towns, twisting and turning all over the mountains. And not a gas station in sight. We were not even sure at what point we left the state of Maryland and entered the state of Pennsylvania. Can we say, Deliverance?
We were told this rout would be faster than the oh-so-efficient, PA Turnpike, Not.
The next bump in our adventure came about thirty minutes from our destination (it is worthy to note, we should have already arrived about 30 minutes earlier) in the form of a phone call from the pony owner’s husband. He informed us that he and his wife were going through marital issues, and would not be unable to meet us.
Say what?
He told us this was the first he had heard about us coming, he apologized for the trouble and informed us he had arranged for his non horse friend to meet us.
uh, OK.
So we pulled into the farm, quite a bit later than expected and it was nearly dark.
Goal, get tack on the pony and spin it around a few times.
Luckily I had a saddle in my trailer, but unfortunately no useable bridle could be found in the barn. Non-the-less, I climbed on, in the then, full dark, and Lindsey walked with me as we lapped the round pen one time. At that point the field of horses behind us began thundering around, unseen in the dark, freaking the pony out. Great.
In that full minute of sitting on the pony, he did feel good under me, but that’s about all I got out of it.
I dismounted and we took the pony to the well lit barn. Unfortunately the stalls were all inhabited with wildly barking dogs that you couldn’t see and don’t forget the uncountable number of cats that were jumping out of and laying everywhere. The pony was not happy and was becoming more and more freaked out.
The adventure just kept getting more and more awesome.
We checked him over and jogged him out and decided to take the gamble and throw him in the trailer.
Easier said than done. 20 minutes of unsuccessful loading and we had made very little progress. The non horse person who was selling us the pony for his friend, and had thus far shown impeccable patience, became a bit impatient, and decided he was going to get the pony on the trailer. His professional method of dragging a thousand pounds of pony by the lead rope, proved, as expected, less than successful, and resulted in the lead rope breaking. Which sent the pony off, lapping the neighborhood in full dark, near a busy road.
Did I just buy pony burgers?
Thirty minutes later the pony came trotting back up the driveway and right up to us. We clipped on a new lead and headed back to continue our loading attempts.
This time we attempted the age old loading technique of offering feed to the pony. Interestingly, no pony feed could be found in the barn, so we were working with rabbit chow, but the same result was being met, and we made minor progress over the following ten minutes. Shortly, the non horse friend again became impatient and hit the pony in the head a few times before grabbing the pony’s head in a suspected wrestling move, again, sending the pony away from the trailer.
Forward progress, ended.
At that point I decided that it was just a bad situation, and mother-karma was all but bitch slapping me in the face to, NOT buy that pony, so I gave in and said enough.
I got my money back, Lindsey and I got in the truck and drove away, pony-less.
We were careful to take the turnpike for the drive back. Score!
woo, toll booth!
note: insane face. Got a toll ticket.
I arrived at home at 2am, and headed straight to bed.
Simon loving being loved on
Ironically, and totally fitting for how my life seems to work, the next day I planned to head to the Orange Horse Auction an hour away. I started my day off by loving on Simon and telling him he is the best pony in the world. I then ran a few errands, driving my other truck, which also died and needed a jump and consequently a new battery.
Yes, both of my trucks needed new batteries in under 24 hours.
That’s just how my life rolls.
After outfitting the little truck with a new battery, I headed home and decided that I was not meant to purchase a pony that weekend, and should probably spend the rest of the day lazing about on the couch with Daisy.
Cheers for pony shopping adventures. Lets hope the next, and hopefully last one, is less exciting.
All Things Krista 