Of Course They Did!
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Lettie greets my visitor
When my visitor arrived, just three of my ten Fell Ponies were in the corrals. Fortunately, my visitor was interested in helping with chores, so we busied ourselves with them. All the while, though, I kept my eyes peeled for the rest of the herd because I wanted my visitor to meet all of them. Soon, Madie and her foal King came into view on the hill, and my visitor exclaimed appreciation as King posed appropriately regally on a steep slope. Then I saw a three-some high on the hill watching us and listening as we talked while preparing vitamin buckets. I was not looking forward to climbing up to bring them in, and my visitor wasn’t able to climb anyway, so I just shrugged off my desire to introduce those three.
We gave buckets to my stallion and the two mares that were in. When we were done, I looked up on the hill, where I saw that the three-some was starting to move. I pointed them out to my visitor then over the next two minutes we were treated to a display of Fell Pony beauty. These three navigated the steep terrain with manes and tails flowing, trotting then galloping toward the barn as they reached flatter ground. I opened the gate and let them into the corrals, thinking about a comment that has been made more than once about my ponies and me. It seemed to apply to my wondering if these three would come in on their own: ‘Of course they did!’
My visitor had now met all my ponies except for the newest foal and her mother. I told my visitor that I didn’t know where they were, so it looked like we wouldn’t get to see them. And then, here they came, up out of the ravine towards the barn, where Rose and Lettie cordially greeted my visitor.. ‘Of course they did!’
I introduced the three hill ponies to my visitor as we gave them their vitamin buckets. One of the three was yearling Aimee. It didn’t take long before my visitor was petting Aimee and scratching her in her favorite places. Almost sheepishly, my visitor turned to me and said, “I like Aimee best.” I don’t what Aimee does to elicit such admiration from visitors, but this visitor joined most of the others I’ve had this year in placing Aimee at the top of the list. ‘Of course they did!’
Visitors are a relatively rare happening here. So I always learn a lot watching how my ponies react to visitors and my visitors react to them. Often my ponies humble me, and this time was no different. ‘Of course they did!’
© Jenifer Morrissey, 2021
