HARMONY
by Steevie Pugh
There
she was. A beautiful, lovely, stunning, amazingly gorgeous mare. She was
prettier than anything I'd ever seen before.. would she really be mine if today
went well? A
stable girl walked past and, seeing me staring in awe, "I
see you've met Harmony," She said with a kindly smile "She's a good
mare, she is.. when she wants to be..." And
with that, she strode off, lugging the full wheelbarrow of muck behind her.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped
forwards and unbolted the stable door. I
stepped inside. 'Harmony' greeted me with a friendly whicker, watching me,
carefully yet trusting. She was born a riding school pony, however, I had a
feeling that she could achieve so much more... I
undid the throat-lash, untwisted her reins and did the strap up again.
Flipping the reins over her head, I walked her out of the barn.
It was a strange feeling to be
at the head of such a beautiful creature. She moved easily and fluidly, her neat
head held high and her nostrils flared excessively.
She stood quietly beside the
mounting block as I tightened the girth and ran down the stirrups. Whispering words
that only Harmony and I could hear, I placed my foot into the stirrup and
swung up onto her back. Following her smiling owner, we made our way up to the
indoor school. Harmony
had a long, comfortable stride at walk, and her head carriage was quite high..
that might've been because of her breeding, as she was Welsh Section D x Hackney
Pony. A light touch on the reins was enough to guide her in the right direction.
Walking round the indoor arena, I took time to realise every little movement,
every little blemish and every little noise that my mount made. She hadn't got
used to Treacle & Raffles grazing in the field next to the school yet, and
kept shying away from that corner in particular.. that was what Marie said,
anyway! I
picked up a trot. All it took was to apply very light pressure with my legs and
say ''Tr-rot'' and off she went, into her lovely, gorgeous, super-wonderful
trot. It was SO easy to sit to, and JUST the right pace. I loved it. I
brought her back to a walk and announced that I should like to try a canter.
I squeezed my legs together and
let her drift into that lovely trot, then asked her to canter in the corner. She
did. Reaching the door which led out onto the car park, Harmony flew sideways,
then bucked powerfully; I only just stayed on. Her canter was VERY weird, not
half as comfy as her trot had been. Riding on her was like trying to ride on two
different ponies at once - her hind end trotted and her front end cantered. It
was like '123121234123121234' as the beats, weird as that may sound. But I liked
it anyway!! Then
we set up a small jump. It was a simple cross-pole of 1ft. Simple. But I then
realised that Harmony had no confidence whatsoever when it came to jumping. She
virtually went Up-over-down instead of over in a fluid arch. I was quite proud
of her though, as she usually didn't jump at all! I
decided that was enough and went for a light hack up in Epping Forest. Trying to
ride down the roads was a nightmare, as was going through the forest. See,
Harmony was afraid of traffic, and of riding crops. The branches of trees were
like whips to her, and the cars were oh-so-scary! She was literally dancing down
the road. After
I returned, my mom said I wouldn't be allowed to have a pony that wasn't safe on
the roads. This upset me.. I would never be allowed to have Harmony now.. I
sighed bitterly. It wasn't fair! However,
my mom soon brightened me up.. "Even
though you can't have Harmony, you can come here for lessons on her, can't
you!" "OH
YEAH!!!!" I screamed wildly Harmony
is now tons better. She still freaks at whips and crops, but is better in
traffic and when jumping! Hooray!!
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