So, what is it with little girls and ponies? I know it’s not all, but a rather inordinate number of little girls seem to be obsessed with ponies (similarly, little boys are obsessed with dinosaurs. I can kind of explain this as I was as when I was younger: they’re big and eat smaller things), but is it something that’s hardwired into their mental development, or is it something that their mothers memetically put upon them?
From what little I know, it appears to be a bridge between different phases of doll-playing (going from cartoony dolls to more realistic sorts), so perhaps this is a progression of nurturing instincts? Does it have anything to do with an awareness of self and societal ideals of nobility/grooming? Freedom from societal constraints? An excuse to eat sugar cubes when Mom tells you no more candy?
Or is it just that ponies are big and eat smaller things?
I don’t know what it is but my two-year old daughter is too. As a matter of fact, she told her nanna (my wife’s mother) that she wanted one so nanna went out and bought her a real one last week. Yes, I am serious. I am trying to find a saddle that will fit her on Ebay tonight. I had a hard time finding a riding hat that would fit her too but I found one eventually. I guess the makers figure that 2-year olds shouldn’t have their own horse and I sort of agree.
My little girl likes Ponies and dinosaurs. She likes bugs and barbies, too.
Kids are small. Horses are too big and scary. Ponies are small and not so fearsome looking to a whee one.
Any little girl can tell you what a pony means
A pony is a companion, a protector, one to protect, freedom, and power all wrapped up into one.
You can braid the hair and tell it stories and it has to listen. You can feed it. You can ride like the wind, and jump. If you are a kid, and you are on a pony, you are no longer this tiny little weak child who stares at the navels of all the adults. You are on a par with them. More, you are above them. They will get out of your way, because you are bigger and stronger. You are in control.
Ponies are also just ponies, and that’s enough. There don’t have to be any other reasons. You either know… or you don’t.
See if there is a hippotherapy place near you, or a therapeutic riding one. Go an watch just once, and you will never ask this question again. Watch a blind, or a retarded, or a disabled kid get on a horse and see his/her face. See what happens, what that person becomes when they are on a horse… and you will know.
There are horses. There are people. There is a third order of being when the two join.
Former little girl checking in. I didn’t care much for ponies when I was little. I don’t remember ever wanting a real one, or asking Santa or anyone else for one. I did have quite the collection of My Little Ponies though, which are back again (to my great amusement, although I won’t purchase any).
My son had a pony ride at a county fair this year and seemed completely uninterested. He likes dogs (we have 2), cats (1), and fish (oh, 14 or so) though. Of course, they’re called “dots (sometimes by their names though), titties, and fissies”, but it works.
Horses are purdy! I blame my obsession on ponies as a 7/8 yr old on a series of books called “the pony club”.
Of course I blame my wanting to go to boarding school, wanting to investigate secret tunnels, wanting to have picnics with “lashings of ginger beer” and NEEDING to check up trees and under toadstools for fairies on Enid Blyton.
I grew out of all of that by about 11/12, but I still wanted to spy on people…damn ‘Harriet the spy’.
I didn’t want a horse or a pony, I wanted a T-rex!
I was disappointed that my plastic one (about a foot tall, battered and worn but I still have it) didn’t grow big and eat all the mean people. Like Calvin pretending he’s a T-rex… that was cool…
I definitely liked horses as a kid, but now would be hard pressed to say exactly why.
Dinosaurs now…I looove dinosaurs. I volunteer as a Sue* docent at the Field Museum, and I can assure you that there is no gender/ethnic/age/whatever barrier with dinosaur fascination. Everybody likes a dinosaur, especially one as big and ferocious looking as Sue.
Desmond Morris had an interesting take on this.
He claims its somehow sexual, yet innocent.
He says girls who get older stop being so interested in ponies and/or horses.
My little girl wants a pony. I’ve weakened and will get her one for her birthday - I made her have a trial run with another couple of girls collectively sharing a liveried pony and she was happy enough to do the mucky jobs, and she likes riding it, and appears to have an aptitude of some sort.
But by golly it’s expensive (I live in London and it appears that the Authorities have views about keeping them in the park, so it will need stabling.
As to why little girls like ponies I have no idea specifically, but it does seem to only effect some of them.
As a boy I was very keen on ponies and horses but I come from a horsey background and my family had horses.
I was dead keen on dinosaurs too. Because they are big and fierce.
So the equivalent for a little boy (or the little boy in all of us) would be a Ninja master.
My (adult) girlfriend seems like she’s more into large cuddly animals - bears, moose, large dogs. I had quite a lengthy discussion while watching the Discovery Channel about why the T-Rex probably did not evolve with fluffy bunny fur and a pink bow and that the brontosaurus (or whatever they are called) probably was not fluffy like a sheep dog.
According to the Naked Ape series from TLC, it is a biological thing. Something like 4 times as many girls as boys are drawn to horses, and the infatuation peaks just before puberty. It is, in effect, training for living with a bigger, stronger, silent companion that she must care for.
But, that’s from The Learning Channel, so who knows?
I will ask the wife if she realised when she was a horsey girl that she was practicisng for living with a big clumsy creature, who can’t use domestic appliance, and is fond of buttermints (and has a huge cock.)
I didn’t care much for ponies when I was little. I don’t remember ever wanting a real one, or asking Santa or anyone else for one. I did have quite the collection of My Little Ponies though, which are back again (to my great amusement, although I won’t purchase any).