Let me start by saying, I have a fantastic pony. I mean, truly a fantastic pony. She is well mannered, overly cute, very well trained and has lots of potential. I love my pony, but she is 13.1 hands tall and I am 5'8" tall. All laws of physics continue to tell me that a tall person, just can not ride a short pony. Above all else, my pony, loves to have a job. She loves to work and be doing something. She gets bored, and then gets into trouble, just standing around.
I've had Ilsa since she was 4 months old. She is turning six this month. I've trained and worked with her as much as I really can, short of doing much under saddle work. She is target trained, trick trained and both lunges and long lines. Because of this, I ended up leasing her out a few times to young kids. All of which, she packed around on trails, in the ring and at shows. She's safe, darn near bomb proof. She'll go through anything or jump over it. She's just a fantastic little pony. All her ground manners are excellent. She does everything a pony should, she ties, leads, clips, loads, and goodness knows, anything else asked of her. Over all, she is just a joy of a little Fjord (her breed), she also carries lovely bloodlines and a rare color within the breed, so she is valuable from that standpoint to boot.
I finally decided my lovely pony is just going to go to waste here. I have no plans to breed Fjords and can not think of a use for her at this time, other than being a cute lawn decoration. I love her dearly and would only send her to the very best home anyhow, but decided it would be a good idea to start marketing her. She would love to have her very own kid too!
So, fast forward. Nearly three months ago, a professor from Maine contacts me about needing a small Fjord. Tells me about herself and her 10 year old daughter. I explain in detail everything I can about Ilsa. I sent numerous photos and other information along to them. It sounded like perhaps, it would be a good match. The mother is 5'1" and the daughter 4'11". Nice small people and slender built, so the perfect size for the pony (keep this part in mind, she is a pony..). The daughter was said to be a total beginner, which is perfect, Ilsa loves to pack around young ins and take care of them.
After those three months, they finally visit this last Friday. Which is fine, they canceled visits over the past few weeks that were already planned, but things happen in life of course, so we finally got a time together that worked. First off, they show up very late, understandable if they were coming from Maine, but they were in CT, only about 40 minutes away. I think it should have been a sign.
Anyhow, they arrive. They are exactly as described, which was nice. They brought their friend along that lives in CT with them (I assume they were visiting her and that was the reason for being so tardy?). Either way, their friend, although about the same height as they were, had an added 90 to 120 pounds. She was dressed in riding clothing as well. Now, horses in general, have a weight limit, and no doubt, this lady would need a larger horse.
So they see the pony, they brush her, her adore her, they pat and play with her. They want to see her move and be ridden. They asked me to ride her first, which was fine. I can understand someone asking another person to ride their horse first (although it is something I've never done, as I would want to get a full feel of the horse myself, not after they are "warmed up"). I mount the pony by asking her to bow (a trick I trained her) and ride her around for them, walk - trot - canter - halt. They love her, have only good things to say. Then the daughter hops on, no problems. The daughter is overly scared and nervous. Extremely tense. Ilsa, just as she would, does what the girl asks and never even bats an eye, despite the crowd of dirtbikes and quads my neighbors boys are riding around on. The larger lady, stays in the backquietly and doesn't say a word, as I mentioned several times since they arrived that even myself, at 135lbs, was pushing the ponies weight limit.
So one would think all is going well, right? I'm standing next to the girls mother chatting with her, watching her daughter ride. Then, she earns the mother of the year award. She says "Well if my daughter can ride her, anyone can". I nearly bit my tongue. What type of mother would say that about her daughter?
Well then the mother wants to ride and I get another eye opener. Not only do these people already own a horse (another Fjord...pony), but I hear "Well I've ridden 12 times in the last 6 years". Huh? Obviously it must be a lie, but I digress. She rides the pony around. She is tense and scared as well, but Ilsa packs them around no trouble. The daughter is standing next to me, smiling and chatting and saying how much she likes the pony. Then the mother rides over, done from her test ride. I next, get the shock of my life, this woman blurts out "She has pony gaits". I tried so hard to contain myself from laughing. I just replied with a "well she is a pony". For the next ten minutes, all I hear about is how she is too small and too pony like. Honestly, it could have been expected, except for the few months prior to their visit, she made it very clear to me that they needed a small pony, safe for beginners. Now she's, too small? Very silly.
I'm sad they wasted my time, but the stress over these people upset me more. It became very clear that because I told them the truth about this pony in every and all angles, they had nothing to say that was not bad. In fact, they could only say good things. They praised her training and her light aids up the whazooe.
It just makes me wonder if all people that sell and market horses have these issues. I know many fudge, or "forget" aspects of the animal for sale (heck, every one I purchased had some skeletons in the closet, but I figure that to be true of all sale horses). I guess these people just had no idea what to do with a horse that was exactly as advertised. I think a lot of it was, they had no leverage to lower her price, and perhaps, although they knew all this prior, were looking at a pony out of their price range. A good safe pony, is incredibly valuable and they rarely go for sale.
It'll take me a long time to finally decide what to do with Ilsa. More than likely, she will continue to stay with me and be my little adorable pony, which might be just fine. The unfortunate side is that I do have to pick three horses to market this summer, and she is one of them. My other, is another favorite as well, sometimes things are just a little too hard and require more sleep though.
