A Pony´s Love

When I was 5, I got a pony for my birthday. I didn't realize how special that was until I grew up, and all the little girls asked their parents for a pony.

I thought, wow, we were so poor, yet my dad got me a pony. Years later, I learned that my grandmother paid the $60 for the pony, but my father found it and went and collected him.

The connection was instant. The instant my father placed me on his back, I knew we would be best friends. I named him PeeWee.

My father taught me to ride him the next day bareback. We could not afford a saddle, but I didn't need one. He was gentle and always took his time with me.

He was also a working pony. It was the 80s, and my parents moved off the grid before off griding was the thing to do. We used him to pull logs out of the woods, and even though I was a kid, he was my pony, so the task of riding him with all the logging equipment was mine.

I got up, and we pulled log by log out of the forest in a holler in Kentucky. We did not have an option; it was freeze or work. So we worked.

During the winter, his hair would grow so that he would stay warm in the barn. Every morning I would check on him and feed him. If we were not working in the afternoons, we would go on long walks in the forest.

I told him all my secrets and dreams; he was the best listener. Especially since, as a kid, I was shy. I would not talk to anyone and was made fun of mercifully because I didn't speak. Little did they know I talked Peewee's ear off.

I often would take him for rides when the family came over. The overwhelming sense of too many people around has always been hard for me to be around. I prefer the solitude of the woods and wide open pastures.

Even as an adult, I would go for a ride or long walk alone rather than be in a room full of people. PeeWee knew, and it was easy since I learned to ride without a saddle. I just jumped on him, and off we went.

My father always knew when I needed my time alone, and I often wonder if that is why out of all of my siblings, I am the only one who learned to ride; a place where I could be alone, with PeeWee with no interruptions.

He was my best friend and helped me survive the difficult times of growing up as a shy, timid kid, who later turned into a shy, introverted adult who still talks to her pets to hide away from most people.

I no longer have my pony, but I will always have memories of long walks in the woods, logging so we could stay warm in the winter, and all my secret conversations that he never told a soul.

One day when I grow up, I plan on getting a whole pasture full of ponies, so other children can experience the presence of a majestic animal waiting to soothe the soul of a child who is too afraid to talk to anyone else.

The joy and love PeeWee brought me as a child; forever be my best friend and confidant. Even as the years go by, knowing that he is in heaven running until his heart is content brings a smile to my face.