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More Pony Posse....

4K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  AfterParty 
#1 ·
Some of you may have seen a thread in which I mention the "Pony Posse" at the new stable I'm at, and we all sort of joked, etc. Well....

Today I pick up the paper and in the sports I see pretty much a who's who of the Pony Posse???? Pics with their ponies and talk of their accomplishments...One girl qualified for Pony Finals 2010 in Kentucky and USEF 2010 Pony Medals finals. Another rode to the Medium Green ponies championship in Rosco and qualified two other ponies for 2010 Pony Finals. The third states that she's actually a "former" Pony Posse and now president of it and that she went to USDF Region 4 championships last year..

Ok, so.. it seems they are pretty good and our trainers do a great job with these kids and ponies. Most of them are polite and the one going to Finals actually has a sign up that she is "working her way" to finals and lists all the odd jobs she is willing to do to earn money from tack cleaning to babysitting. I even saw her clean out and re-organize someone's tack locker...even leaving a little mint!! I thought it was just darling. So I was somewhat starting to change my opinion of this group of kids....until I saw the stable calendar.

The whole week this week the indoor arena is closed for the specific use of the Pony Posse. Say What???? It was closed last weekend for a clinician that was brought in. ok, so now I'm a little concerned. I pay the same amount of board and yet...all day 24/7 for a week no using the indoor arena...at least I think that is what it was meant when it was blocked off. They didn't put 9-5 or anything like that. We do have a hunt field which Cinny goes nuts in and a dressage arena that is currently just a plowed spot with no rails...which I will do no more than walk Cinny in be because he always eyeballs the adjacent 100 acre cornfield of baby corn and grabs at the bit. I think he seriously contemplates just ditching me and running for it when we are out there lol.

I moved to this stable for 3 reasons...It's an english show stable one of the few in this STATE, there are three great trainers especially with dressage and....an arena I can actually use no matter what the weather. The biggest issue with my last facility was that there was only an outdoor arena and it rains here at least 3 days a week. The arena took at least 2 days to dry and then when it did it was cement until the BO could pull herself away from reading craigslist adds long enough to drag it...and then it turned into a cesspool of large dirt clods. When I toured this facility and asked about the arenas, the clinicians, the lessons, if there were times the indoor arena specifically wouldn't be available I was not told about Pony Posse hostile takeovers...only the 1 clinic a month and the 2-4 shows a year (depending on if/when they decide to include a few of their "casual no dress" shows).

So I'm thinking of writing the BO at the new place an email and asking if there are specific hours and telling her how I think it's unfair to the rest of us boarders...but not sure how to not be a B about it. I really don't want to move because IMHO this is the BEST boarding facility within an hours drive. But...if I can't work Cinny consistently I am afraid it will be a two steps forward/one step back sort of thing with him. And I really really do NOT want to make any waves here.

What do you guys think??? Oh, and a few pounds of carrots to all of you who read my lil novel....
 
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#2 ·
Obviously anything concerning this "Pony Posse" gets my attention! I still grin at the mere mention of it.

Cinny, you are within your rights to inquire about the blocked usage of the arena. You are a paying customer, and not getting a reduced board fee for this inconvenience. Simply state what you did in your post. Perhaps there is a set time for the PP to use the arena. If not, maybe because of your inquiry and concern about your loss of time and training with your horse, there will be a set time.

Please keep us informed on how this plays out, and (I realize this is kinda sick on my part) any further developments concerning the Pony Posse.
 
#6 ·
Obviously anything concerning this "Pony Posse" gets my attention! I still grin at the mere mention of it.

Cinny, you are within your rights to inquire about the blocked usage of the arena. You are a paying customer, and not getting a reduced board fee for this inconvenience. Simply state what you did in your post. Perhaps there is a set time for the PP to use the arena. If not, maybe because of your inquiry and concern about your loss of time and training with your horse, there will be a set time.

Please keep us informed on how this plays out, and (I realize this is kinda sick on my part) any further developments concerning the Pony Posse.
Haha don't worry walkamile I look forward to this too it cracks me up!

Well I would be able to live with one week a year... I do think she should of told you when you first came to the barn though.
 
#3 ·
I would also write the BO and say that you're disappointed that she did not mention this to you--since it seems it is a pretty big deal. However, the "1 clinic a month" guesstimate could mean 4 clinics one month, and none the next.

I would still write her, but since it is a limited engagement (not like they're coming in every Tuesday and Thursday) don't make too much of a fuss.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Oh I know the clinics are only 1 per month and they don't do more than one in each month. She just wrote back and told me it's only the afternoons...which is nice for most but not for me. I only have childcare 1pm to 6pm ha ha ha. She also said it is only once a year, one week during summer. So ok, I can live with that.

I think I'm going to work on lunging Cinny outdoors..even though he is currently having some bad habit pick up with is lunging. Maybe the change off scenery will help. And then if they get done by 4 (which with the BO's swimming pool a mere 200 yards away, could reasonably happen) I will ride. If not I will maybe watch and get to know these kids a bit better... there may be a time when I may need someone to lunge, supplement or work Cinny and usually pre-teen girls are more than willing to work with another horse if they have time :) and it doesn't hurt that for some reason the girls just gush over Cinny these days.
 
#5 ·
Wait, these girls are allowed to just take over the arena for an entire week?
I have never, ever been to a barn that allows people to "book" the arena like that (aside from clinics, shows, etc). Even during lessons you should still be allowed to ride in the arena as long as you're polite and don't get in the way.

I guess that's good that it's only for the one week, but it would have been nice if she had told you about it.
 
#7 ·
OMG, it was CRAZY last night. I forgot that Pony Posse has their little weekly get together/lessons Monday nights and I started Cinny late. We are in the arena, and he is just being a gem. All of a sudden I hear screaming and screeching....in come the Pony Posse en masse. I know Cin needs to get used to this stuff so I just tapped him with my lil dressage stick (I only use it to tap for attention) and his ears turned back to me and he went back to work and ignored them. But the next thing I know we have 8 ponies in the arena with us being cantered around like little the little demons that they are ha ha. Cinny just about came UNGLUED. He HATES ponies. The girls were being polite and they did follow general etiquette so they weren't doing anything wrong at all, just Cinny had a lot of trouble concentrating. Every time one cantered up and passed us from behind I could feel him shifting his behind and try to aim to kick at them. And talk about teeth gritting, I'm surprised he has any left. I walked him one more time around to give him some experience and left because I was sure he was a ticking time bomb at that point.

Note to self.....never ride on Mondays after 4pm!! Poor Cinny ha ha.
 
#8 ·
Oh goodness poor Cinny! Well thats good that they were using good etiquette, some of the girls where I ride never do and almost run into someone.
 
#9 ·
I think in the long run it was a really good experience for him. If I am going to eventually have him in shows, then he needs to get used to general silliness and traffic....especially if I am going to have him in a "warm up" ring at a show. I just don't think I was ready for it yet ha ha.
 
#10 ·
Warm up rings are the most dangerous place in the entire world, I SWEAR!

...
Gah.
Haha, anyway,
These girls remind me of a group of girls we had around here, a lot more professional and better riders mind you.. but around here there was a group that everybody knew, all of which were under 11 that would fly through the park and up and down busy streets bareback, sometimes two to a horse, no parents EVER in sight, horses drenched in sweat, kids nearly killing themselves...
Funny how preteen girls have such a way of making themselves known ;D
 
#12 ·
So, this is the week of Pony Posse Hostile Takeover (as I like to call it). It started yesterday but I didn't to to the stable until today. OMG, it was not only Pony Posse, it was Pony Posse wanabe's too. Each Pony Posse member has been assigned a junior partner (they look to be ages 4-6).

Well, today apparently was lessons in grooming. I swear every pony in the place was crammed into the barn and in various stages of show grooming. Being bathed, body clipped, braided. Sadly, the REAL pony posse was doing all the work while the juniors ran through the barn screaming, doing cartwheels, etc etc. The only adult I saw was busy body clipping a pony. It was complete Mahem.

Our tack lockers are basically cramed into what would have been a barn stall...a row on top, and a row on bottom on both sides facing each other and a 3 foot wide walkway in between that dead ends in the back so can only come and go on one side. Basically, there isn't enough room for more than 2 people to get between the 11 lockers (the trainer has 1 big one). So I'm trying to get my stuff out (I'm new so yay me, I have a bottom tack locker) and the lil mini posse kids keep coming one at a time making me move so they can get a piece of gum, 1 potato chip, a piece of candy, back and forth back and forth. They pass behind Cin every time..sometimes walking, skipping and even running. Sometimes rattling chip bags and candy wrappers....And then, one of the REAL pony posse goes to get some grooming supplies and she's followed by about 6 juniors. I was like "hey, is it really necessary for ALL of you to cram yourself in here?"

I had Cin tied to a post trying to goom and lil kids are running every where, screaming. The post is against a middle row of stalls so there is an isle on either side and it's blind to the horses tied because they can't see who is coming down the path at them.... all you know is you hear some little rug rat running, tripping, skipping, screeching......And Cin, ya gotta love him. He stood there quietly through the whole mess as if we were the only souls in the whole barn. Not a flinch, not a spook...nothing.

Did I mention that I really LOVE my horse and the fact that he can put up with sooooo much.
 
#24 ·
So, this is the week of Pony Posse Hostile Takeover (as I like to call it). It started yesterday but I didn't to to the stable until today. OMG, it was not only Pony Posse, it was Pony Posse wanabe's too. Each Pony Posse member has been assigned a junior partner (they look to be ages 4-6).

Well, today apparently was lessons in grooming. I swear every pony in the place was crammed into the barn and in various stages of show grooming. Being bathed, body clipped, braided. Sadly, the REAL pony posse was doing all the work while the juniors ran through the barn screaming, doing cartwheels, etc etc. The only adult I saw was busy body clipping a pony. It was complete Mahem.

Our tack lockers are basically cramed into what would have been a barn stall...a row on top, and a row on bottom on both sides facing each other and a 3 foot wide walkway in between that dead ends in the back so can only come and go on one side. Basically, there isn't enough room for more than 2 people to get between the 11 lockers (the trainer has 1 big one). So I'm trying to get my stuff out (I'm new so yay me, I have a bottom tack locker) and the lil mini posse kids keep coming one at a time making me move so they can get a piece of gum, 1 potato chip, a piece of candy, back and forth back and forth. They pass behind Cin every time..sometimes walking, skipping and even running. Sometimes rattling chip bags and candy wrappers....And then, one of the REAL pony posse goes to get some grooming supplies and she's followed by about 6 juniors. I was like "hey, is it really necessary for ALL of you to cram yourself in here?"

I had Cin tied to a post trying to goom and lil kids are running every where, screaming. The post is against a middle row of stalls so there is an isle on either side and it's blind to the horses tied because they can't see who is coming down the path at them.... all you know is you hear some little rug rat running, tripping, skipping, screeching......And Cin, ya gotta love him. He stood there quietly through the whole mess as if we were the only souls in the whole barn. Not a flinch, not a spook...nothing.

Did I mention that I really LOVE my horse and the fact that he can put up with sooooo much.
That sounds like the mayhem that I go through every day that I ride. I ride at my friends house since my horse is just a baby and I can't trust him on trails alone and she has 4 girls, all under 13. And they frequently have friends over after school to ride. Some days, I just want my horse to magically be a seasoned trail horse so I can escape :P

I survived Pony Posse week, and so did Cinny, he was such a trooper. So much commotion going on, kids doing cartwheels in the barn, running, screaming, throwing trash around. And he just stood there as still and silent as the ponies. He didn't even care.

I can't remember which day it was, I think it was one of the last days, one of the littler ones came up admiring Cinny and she asked me "Have you decided yet WHAT Cinny is going to be?" It was so cute and innocent but I almost couldn't hold in the urge to laugh at her question. I told her that he still needs to go to dressage school and learn his basics and then we can figure out what he's going to be. She said "oh, I hope you make him a jumper cuz he'd be pretty going over jumps" and skipped off.

Ahhhhh if only it were THAT simple.
That is so adorable :) I normally dislike small children, but when they come out with things like that it's hard to hate them. So much :lol:
 
#13 ·
Oh, wow. Cinny sounds like an angel for putting up with all that mayhem around him. Ugh, I would have been tempted to saddle up and run away from all that, I don't like kids anyway, especially unrestrained ones :?. What a horrible thing that they have the entire barn taken over so that another paying boarder cannot get a moments peace with their horse or any time in the only available arena. I would be ****** (but then again, tolerance isn't one of my virtues LOL). I would certainly discuss with the BO about a time that the arena should be open for the other boarders because y'all's horses need work too.

Keeping a horse calm in a crowded arena or warm up pen is one of the most difficult things to teach them. I have seen exceptionally well trained horses absolutely lose their marbles when they are put in a pen with 3 other loping horses. It is just a part of their instinct "Those horses are loping, there must be something worthy of loping away from, what have they seen that is so scary that they must lope......". Frustrating as it is, the only way to work on it is to put them in a situation with other horses moving past them and loping around.
 
#15 ·
What a horrible thing that they have the entire barn taken over so that another paying boarder cannot get a moments peace with their horse or any time in the only available arena. I would be ****** (but then again, tolerance isn't one of my virtues LOL). I would certainly discuss with the BO about a time that the arena should be open for the other boarders because y'all's horses need work too.
Oh, I forgot to update you guys, we got a newsletter that said for the fairness of all other boarders the pony posse only has the arena until 3:30pm :) I decided to take Cin outdoors today anyway because he needs to LEARN to be out there too and they were still doing grooming/screaming inside. I ended up on my butt in the sand lol...only partially Cin's fault this time. I'm glad I'm not at my old stable where the footing was like cement, the sand hurts enough as it is!
 
#16 ·
I survived Pony Posse week, and so did Cinny, he was such a trooper. So much commotion going on, kids doing cartwheels in the barn, running, screaming, throwing trash around. And he just stood there as still and silent as the ponies. He didn't even care.

I can't remember which day it was, I think it was one of the last days, one of the littler ones came up admiring Cinny and she asked me "Have you decided yet WHAT Cinny is going to be?" It was so cute and innocent but I almost couldn't hold in the urge to laugh at her question. I told her that he still needs to go to dressage school and learn his basics and then we can figure out what he's going to be. She said "oh, I hope you make him a jumper cuz he'd be pretty going over jumps" and skipped off.

Ahhhhh if only it were THAT simple.
 
#18 ·
I love hearing about the pony posse. lol. and I love the comment about teens and preteens being invincible. I'm 16 and I swear to god I'm actually invincible. I've had falls, head bangs, a horse stepped on my back {700 lb pony} and I'm perfectly fine. Mind you I have a few scars. Never had a concussion, broken bone, torn ligament, nothing that can stop me from riding. Even though I've gone in to solid jumps head first without a helmet. :)
 
#19 ·
That sort of thing was actually one of the deciding factors in us NOT going to one of the nicest barns in our price range. The arena is off limits at certain times for lessons, and they run camps all summer, and I just don't think I could deal with that. It explains why it was so cheap for such a nice facility and it's a bit of a shame, but I don't feel like dealing with a lawsuit when my 3 year old kicks a kid in the head because nobody is watching him/her. :?

You have the patience of a saint, seriously. I hate children to begin with, but if some idiot let them into the barn to be running and screaming, I'd probably be brought up on child abuse charges! :lol:
 
#20 ·
Ha ha, ok...so yesterday I was looking through the stacks of forms in the lobby for a liability release for someone that was trying Cinny out to potentially free lease him...and I came across a stack of applications....they were applications to be in the Pony Posse!! I completely rolled my eyes..... but I guess I know how one becomes part of the Pony Posse, you apply.. I think I'm going to keep my eyes out for a nice pony for my 12 year old daughter and apply for HER to be in Pony Posse next year ha ha...oh wait, do I really want her to learn to behave like that???
 
#23 ·
This Pony Posse sounds like hell in the form of small screaming children.... ugh!
 
#25 ·
I had a problem much like this when I was at a show barn. There was certain nights ( a lot of them ) that special lessons were going on and the indoor could not be used that was fine most of the time but even when it was raining we were unable to use the indoor.

This barn would hold shows and on those days you weren't aloud in the outdoor ring OR indoor ring. So there goes a weekend of riding. I paid $600 a month for that place and it was a waste of money I never got much time to ride.

All I did was move !
 
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