The Pony
It's a rescue animal. It's rather small, as ponies are wont to be. Its coat is excessively shaggy, and it's a dark brown hue. Its eyes are dark brown also, and there's a spark of curiosity in them, although he often appears to look sad. He's kept in a small paddock, where the geese are also kept, along with a few ducks and miniature goats and kids. There's a larger paddock, and the two full-grown horses, a gelding and a mare, are kept there. The pony isn't permitted to be in the larger paddock often because he has a habit of pestering the two larger horses. The mare in particular, although she towers over him. The pony has never been gelded.His owner takes him for walks along their country road from time to time, just to give him the opportunity to walk a bit further than he's generally accustomed to. He behaves well, for the most part, but he does need a firm hand. He can be balky at times, even cantankerous, and that's likely because of hormones. When he becomes stubborn he gets a good talking-to and a no-nonsense pull on the bridle. Which he has been known to try to slip, from time to time.
Both paddocks, the smaller one and the larger, are in a state of disrepair. The larger one is in poorer shape than the smaller. In fact, one of its gates is held together, improbably, with the use of two old unused dog leashes. No matter, the horses are content where they are, and have no intention of bolting.
Because the pony had begun pacing its shared enclosure, its owner became concerned, was worried it might be becoming a little neurotic. The kids, full of life's young enthusiasm, seem to tease the pony at times. They're fully capable of leaping upon his back and balancing there while he moves about. They think it's great fun; it's debatable whether he shares this opinion.
His owner has a rather casual, laid-back attitude toward her wards. She loves them all dearly, no mistake. She decided she would put the little pony into the larger paddock for a bit, see how he made out there, if he'd settle down a bit, leave the horses alone. That was in the evening. In the morning he was nowhere to be seen. It hadn't presented much of a difficulty for him to tease his way out of the loose boards and off he'd gone. Obviously, for he was no longer there.
They, she and her partner, roamed about in the woods behind their little log cabin. They called, they shouted. They drove their truck up and down the country road, peering left and right, but no sign of the little devil. Her partner blamed her. He'd told her time and again the paddocks were ridiculous; she should stop by and pick up material and he'd re-build the paddocks. She hadn't; he hadn't. Her mouth grew tight. His mouth slacked off.
The following morning a neighbour spotted the pony about eight miles down the road, near the Campbell farm. She parked her vehicle, told her daughter to stay in the car, hauled out one of her larger dogs' heavy leashes, and started off toward the pony. A Hydro truck was just coming along the road, and she turned back, hailed it to a stop, explained the situation, and the two Hydro men agreed to help. They formed a triangle and went slowly toward the pony, the neighbour calling him softly. The younger of the two men was nervous; the neighbour told him the pony was stupid, but gentle, not to be afraid. As luck would have it, he reached the pony first, pulled its halter, but the pony reared back, and the man, frightened, let go. They watched it trot off back into the bush. She used her cell phone to call her neighbour's partner.
Later that afternoon when the pony's owner's partner was driving back along the road, after finishing his milk deliveries, he spotted the pony, not far from where his neighbour had said she'd seen him. He parked the large refrigerated vehicle, approached the pony, and kept approaching, as it deliberately backed off, time and again. Until he was finally secured.
It was a long walk back to their log house, with the pony. He was tired after the day's work, irritated at the pony's behaviour, but jubilant that it was he who had found him, and could present him, safe, to his partner. The pony collapsed in an exhausted heap as soon as he entered the compound.
The kids leaped gleefully around him.
posted by Pieface @ Friday, April 28, 2006
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