Pony Ride

 

As some of you may know, my almost 7 yr old daughter, Jenna has Aspergers Syndrome, which is a high functioning form of Autism. She has her issues, but she is also very bright, loving, affectionate, funny, and she has a keen sense of intuition. Especially when it comes to animals. Laughing Orca Ranch was actually named by my daughter. You can read about that in my very first blog post actually.

One day when I asked my daughter what color horse she would like, she said “An Orca Horse”

So when I discovered Dakotas Baby Doll, a black and white tobiano paint horse, who looked a lot like an orca. I figured it must be destiny.

I obviously let my heart control my head.

Interestingly, I never placed my daughter upon Baby Doll’s back before I bought her, and after I brought her home, Jenna refused to ride her even on a lead line. In the 2 1/2 yrs I owned Baby Doll, my daughter never sat on my mare’s back. She would help me groom her, feed her, refill her water, and even give her cookies, but Jenna didn’t trust Baby Doll enough to sit on her back.

I would say my little girl had excellent intuition.

Now, over the last 2 weeks, I’ve shown my daughter pictures of ‘Sugar’, including the one that ‘Sugar’s’ owner sent me, and she seemed very interested in meeting this horse in person. But I was shocked when Jenna told me that she wanted to ride ‘Sugar’. Jenna hasn’t sat on a horse’s back since she was 3 years old. She was also very affected by the injuries that Baby Doll caused me. I didn’t know if she would ever trust a horse again.

But, thanks to sweet, kind, gentle ‘Sugar’, my little girl has regained her trust.

Jenna insisted on going with Ranchman John and I today for ‘Sugar’s’ Vet Check. Before the vet arrived we visited with ‘Sugar’ in her stall. She seemed happy to see us and I even forgot to bring treats yet again. I was most happy about the gentle and curious way ‘Sugar’ approached Jenna, nuzzling her softly and allowing my daughter to hug her around the head and kiss her on the nose. My daughter was thrilled. It was beautiful to watch.

 

And after the Vet Check (I’ll share more about that later. ‘Sugar’ checked out just fine, though.), I saddled up the little mare and Ranchman John helped Jenna climb up onto ‘Sugar’s’ back.

The ground was covered in about an inch of slick, greasy mud, and I had to hunt for higher ground so I could lead ‘Sugar’ and Jenna around.

I figured we’d walk around a couple times and my daughter would say she was done. But every time I stopped and asked her if she wanted to dismount, she’d tell me no, that she wanted to keep riding. So we did. And ‘Sugar’ was calm, quiet and gentle the entire time, even when the horse herd on the other side of the fence got excited and were bucking and squealing. She watched them, but seemed to know she had a job to do. To take safe care of my daughter.

I was even able to talk Jenna into playing “Flying Horse” a couple of times. She spread her ‘wings’ out and helped ‘Sugar’ ‘fly’ as we took a few steps. That exercise did wonders for my daughter’s confidence as she grinned from ear-to-ear!

‘Sugar’ only did one ‘naughty’ thing while Jenna was on her back, but I credit that to the chiro work that was done on her during the vet visit. ‘Sugar’ was so relaxed and feeling good, she was almost sleep-walking. At one point we walked over a deeper area of mud, and I was talking to Ranchman John, all of a sudden I saw ‘Sugar’s’ knees buckle like she was preparing to lay down in the mud. I quickly told her “No! Up! Stand!” and her eyes shot open and she straightened up right away, seeming to realize that she had made a mistake. But she didn’t startle or jump and unseat Jenna at all. And though Jenna was surprised at being tilted forward and down so suddenly, she and I had a good laugh about it afterwards realizing that Sugar just felt so good and relaxed with us after her chiro adjustments.

We walked around in the wind for about an hour until our tummies were growling for lunch. I think Jenna could have rode ‘Sugar’ all day long, though.

Colleen wasn’t there with us as she had some appointments to attend to over at the horse rescue, but she did show us where the horse treats were, so after I removed ‘Sugar’s’ saddle, we were sure to give her some. I liked how gently ‘Sugar’ took the treats, too.

And she likes to give kisses and nuzzles, too.

After we led ‘Sugar’ back to her pen, we hung around for a little while longer, brushing her and scratching her cheeks (her favorite thing). She really likes to be given head hugs and just totally relaxes in my arms.

‘Sugar’ definitely scored huge points with me today for how well she related to my daughter and for how safely she carried my daughter on her back. Now if only all this mud and snow would dry up so I could ride ‘Sugar’ again.