12/24/2025
STORY OF THE DAY:
If you give your child a pony, they will want to ride.
You will buy the best pony you can find.
Then a helmet.
Then boots.
Then breeches.
Then “just one more thing” approximately 147 times.
You’ll find a local barn.
You’ll meet lovely people.
And then—without any formal notice—your old life will quietly pack its bags and move out.
Before you know it, they’ll want to show.
So you’ll find a circuit.
And suddenly weekends are no longer for sleeping in or watching Netflix.
They are for sunrises, coffee consumed at unsafe hours, and standing in a field wondering why it’s both freezing and somehow burning.
Your vehicle will never be clean again.
Your house may resemble a tack room.
There will be hay in places hay should never be.
Your weekends will be spent on a folding chair that was never designed for human comfort.
And your child’s weekends?
They’ll be gaining confidence, making friends, learning new skills, getting filthy—and having the absolute time of their life.
You’ll be there for:
• the first canter
• the first jump
• the first ribbon
• the first championship
• and the first time you cry over a pony doing a very small thing very well
Other parents will congratulate you, and you’ll awkwardly say thank you while thinking,
“I just drove the truck and paid the bill… this was definitely them.”
And suddenly that tiny human who once bounced on a rocking horse is now a confident horse kid, eyeing pony finals… or casually mentioning the Olympics like it’s a reasonable Tuesday goal.
When you give your child a pony, you don’t just give them something to ride.
You give them:
• grit
• courage
• responsibility
• dreams
• friendships
• a second family
• and a lifetime supply of stories that begin with “So this one time at the barn…”
And somehow—plot twist—you get an equestrian family too.
Friends who understand why you smell like horses, live in barn clothes, and think mud is a neutral accessory.
One day, years from now, they’ll spot an old trophy on a shelf.
They’ll pick it up and remember the ponies, the people, the laughs, the falls, the victories.
And you’ll realize every early morning, every muddy boot, every chaotic weekend…
was worth it.
All because you gave your child a pony.
(And accidentally joined a cult you’re very happy to be in.) 🐴✨
