No, we do not have a horse. But Zoe has always been one of “those” children who beg to ride the horses (well, ponies…) any time we see them on their circular trips.
For the first time ever, we were recently able to put BOTH kids on ponies at the same time! As with many other things in life, Zoe went first, which meant that Ella was determined to get on a pony. And JUST like Zoe when she was small, Ella loved it.
I have so many memories of Zoe on ponies (and videos, as it turns out) that I thought I’d take a short trip down memory lane and share a few, so here goes:
Zoe’s First Pony Ride (Jan 2012)
Zoe on a Fake Horse at Legoland (Oct 2013)
Zoe on a Unicorn (Sept 2015)
Zoe AND Ella on Ponies at Farmer’s Market (Jan 2016)
And there you have it. Kids and Ponies. Surely this post will go viral ;)
But seriously, another thing that’s clear: Zoe was a much more animated kid. You can READ the joy in Ella’s face on that horse, her confidence, her desire to BE on that horse, but as you can see on the first video, for Zoe, her joy was all over her face. In fact, her cheeks probably hurt later. We definitely have two very different kids (though I still maintain they look very similar as small children).
My mom rode, showed and owned horses – here’s a picture to prove it:
When I was in my teens (and thanks to my mom), I was lucky enough to have a horse on my grandmother’s farm, Dandy Bars. I did not name him – he came that way. Apparently he was a show horse but past his prime, though you wouldn’t know it by the number of times he tried to knock me off by heading for low-hanging tree branches. And that horse could RUN. Yes, seems like I have always liked to go FAST.
Anyway, maybe it’s genetic, this love of horses. Who knows? I can tell you for sure it’s not that EVERY kid loves a horse, given the number of small children who are removed from circular ponies screaming. Though there IS always a line ;)
Emphasis on Joy 