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A Pony for Christmas<br />
by Judith Scrimger<br />
Every horse lover dreams of receiving<br />
a pony for Christmas, and whether they<br />
gave one or received one, our readers share<br />
the details of a very special Christmas.<br />
My parents say the second word I learned was<br />
“horsey,” right after I learned the word “mommy”.<br />
There was never a time I didn’t want a horse but<br />
coming from a family of five kids, the usual answer<br />
was, “someday, if we can afford it.” When I was<br />
12, which is about 45 years ago now, our neighbors<br />
asked me to come over on Christmas Eve to make<br />
up a game of 45s. At the time, I wondered why they<br />
asked me to play, and not my mom or dad, because<br />
I was just a kid. I also wondered why the drapes<br />
of the window were closed in the room that overlooked<br />
our yard. On Christmas morning, I opened<br />
my present from Santa and found a bridle. I was<br />
so busy smelling the leather that at first I didn’t<br />
notice someone calling me into the kitchen. It was<br />
my dad, and he was holding a black pony. I spent<br />
the whole day in the barn, and I’ve pretty much<br />
owned a horse ever since.<br />
Sue Crocker of New Albany, N.S., competes in<br />
carriage driving and is a member of the Annapolis<br />
Valley Harness Club.<br />
In 1994, I was nine years old and Christmas morning<br />
started like any other – we got up and went right<br />
out to the barn to feed the ponies. My grandfather<br />
taught us that no matter what, the horses come<br />
first – you never eat before them. Every year we<br />
always put a stocking on each stall door so Santa<br />
would leave carrots. I didn’t clue in right away<br />
that the one empty stall had a stocking on it, and<br />
when I looked, there was Little Smokey! Mom says<br />
I jumped straight off the ground with excitement!<br />
I was over the moon, but I noticed that my parents<br />
looked worried. They had hung a big red ribbon<br />
on his stall the night before and it was missing.<br />
That’s how we discovered that Smokey would eat<br />
anything! Luckily, he suffered no ill effects from<br />
his Christmas snack.<br />
Nikki Woolaver, of Amherst, N.S., rode her way<br />
through Pony Club and the hunter division, and<br />
now does team cattle penning with her fiancé,<br />
Mike Porter.<br />
Last year, a month before Christmas, we took our two girls,<br />
Katelyn and Lauren, to look at a pony named Shadow. My<br />
friend, Jackie Allen, who was pregnant at the time, was in on<br />
the surprise. We told the kids we were trying out the pony for<br />
Jackie to buy, and that they could ride the pony until Jackie had<br />
her baby. On Christmas Day we headed to the boarding barn<br />
where we had left a Christmas card, with the girls’ names on<br />
it, on Shadow’s stall. It had a photo of the girls and Shadow<br />
and we had written, “Merry Christmas Girls! Shadow is Your<br />
Pony!” Katelyn couldn’t believe it and said, “She’s ours<br />
Forever” Shadow had on a new blanket and red bow, and<br />
Jackie gave them a red halter with two red lead lines, one for<br />
each of the girls. They were very surprised and kept asking<br />
for days afterwards if the pony was really theirs!<br />
Crystal Barteaux-Tattersall, of Middleton, N.S., is a<br />
teacher and the mother of Katelyn, 9, and Lauren, 7.<br />
Page 24 | November 2014-January 2015 | ATLANTIC HORSE & PONY