Grateful

The Grad Student (above, formerly monickered as Daughter #1) and I went to a USPC Rally today.

USPC: United States Pony Club
It was very fun to watch the show jumping and not be white-knuckling with worry of MY KIDS out there competing. I enjoyed being an unbiased spectator, for once. (Although the 14hh pony in the last round surely did make me yearn for another wonderful pony like our own Dollie Golightly:)

Dollie Golightly, moving cattle at the Downey Ranch.

This afternoon brought back so many memories of our kids and their ponies. (Now I should mention that Pony, as in Pony Club, is not a diminutive of the equine species, but rather reflective on the child's age. I dunno...some Brit somewhere coined the term, and PC is a Brit-originated Club.) Our kids rode and kept innumerable ponies and horses in their time in Pony Club.

OK - my post's title: Grateful:

I am grateful that our kids were involved in Pony Club.
Pony Club taught all three incredible discipline. Incredible, incredible discipline.

"Take care of your pony before you take care of yourself", I still hear one instructor call out after a hard ride in really high temperatures.

And how about those sub-zero mornings, when the kids would have to break ice and feed before heading off to school? And when our kids rode their bikes 3 miles to feed their ponies, twice daily?


The Standards of Proficiency, the Horse Management, the ratings, Knowdown/Quiz, and the mounted meetings...

And how about the Christmas Mounted Meeting, riding around neighborhoods, caroling upon jingle-belled horses? And Halloween ponies?

Fun, work...much more work than a kid's typical day.

And, sadly, life, and death. I don't know how to describe it, but somehow the death of a 1500-lb friend is tremendous burden. Words do not describe.

So, yes! I am grateful that our kids, now all adults, were members of Pony Club. Responsibility, kindness, leadership, athleticism, science, and much more. I frequently encourage our three to turn and repay the volunteerism which enabled what was given to them: a great experience.

Moon, Socks, Zephyr, and some Armstrong kids