My daughter is 22 and currently completing her senior year in college as an exchange student in Japan. Before she left she threatened her mother and me with a cruel death should anything happen to her My Little Pony collection.
When we look back at her drawings and stories about horses, there always seems to be a mother horse taking care of a foal. I’ll cast my vote with kind, powerful, protector.
When I was 5, I had my own pony too. neener
Although, I had a fondness for full-sized horses, at that time, I also found them scary.
My theory on the attraction little girls have with ponies:
They are the closest thing to a unicorn. Girls get bombarded with images of unicorns. Remember the little white unicorn, standing under the rainbow? That image was everywhere when I was a kid.
[Seinfeld voice] Who wouldn’t love a pony?
My parents moved to a small country village when I was about 18 months old (my sister was almost 7 at the time). Ever since then we have both been horse crazy (I am now 28 & my sister is 33) and still got horses. We recently lost my sisters arab after having him for over 20 years and mine is getting older as well. These guys are part of our family and always will be. The initial ‘attraction’ is hard to describe but in the long run it kept us both out of trouble & occupied after school & stopped us from getting bored during school holidays. It also taught us a sense of responsibility as well as to be passionate about something. You can also tell them anything and they listen. The sense of adventure & freedom you get galloping along a beach or trying out a new woodland trial is amazing. We did the lease thing when we were small and traded up and then bought our own in installments with pocket money, part time job money, birthday money etc etc etc
I live in another country now and I miss my horses like mad. Everytime I go home it is nice to get back into the old routine but it hurts like crazy when I have to leave as I know I might not see my old boy ever again. I am also not used to having any spare time as the boys always needed feeding feeding, grooming, riding etc etc. So there you go some women just never grow out of it.
Yet another topic I am compelled to respond to .
I was one of those pony/horse crazy little girls . There was no reason for the obsession , I was born living in the city , my parents were not horse lovers , I had no real contact with them other than the occasional pony ride . Nevertheless , I grew up loving them . No , loving them does not do justice to it ; it was passion , obsession . I am almost 45 years old , and still is .
Growing up , my favorite toys were Breyer horses and the Johnny West horses . I did play with Barbies , but my Barbies were not models or teachers or nurses - they owned stables and kennels . I begged , I pleaded for a pony of my own , to no avail . When I was 6 , they did break down and let me take riding lessons , for not quite a year , untill I fell off for the first time , and Mom decided that I would be killed if I continued the lessons , and made me stop . To ‘make up for it’ , they bought me a piano and forced me to take piano lessons . I hated it , despised it , and this lasted MAYbe 4 months . To this day , I do not like piano music .
When I graduated high school in 1978 , I did not want a car or jewelry . I wanted a horse . And my parents finally came through . They bought me a wonderful 1/2 Arabian gelding named Star , who had been abused . I nursed him back to health , and loved him like I had never loved anything before … or since . He was my world . I had him for 4 wonderful years , until my job went belly up , and my money ran out , and I was forced to sell him , easily the hardest thing I have ever done . I got a second horse 2 years later , but we never bonded , he ended up breaking my arm , and I sold him , as well . This was in 1986 , and I have been horseless ever since .
A part of me is dead without a horse in my life . The closest comparison I can make is like junkie craving their drug . I don’t just like riding , I crave everything about them , I love the way they smell , I enjoy grooming , cleaning stalls , everything . It is something you are born with , I believe this fully . I get teary-eyes listening to the song Run For the Roses . Watching horses moving in slow-motion on TV literally leaves my breathless . I collect Breyer horses (and Peter Stone , Hagen Renaker , and the REALLY expensive artist resins…) to this day , my collection is right around 450 pieces , and probably valued at $20,000 .
I have many health problems including severe arthritis in my spine (Guess what caused it ? A fall from my horse …) and it is highly unlikely I will ever be a horse owner again . I do not feel like I am complete .
Is there a why ? I cannot answer that . According to the psychic Sylvia Browne , those of us who have an unnatural attachment to horses were probably strongly connected to them in a past life , and that seems to be as good of an explaination as any to me .
I do not try to understand it any longer , I just live with it , and I die a little inside each day that passes that I am cut off from what I love more than anything else in the world 
Anna
I was a very small child. Very small. I wore the same child-sized 4 school uniforn from 3rd through 7th grade. But I could ride! I was routinely beat up by one mean girl in my class, but I could ride! I was the youngest of five kids, not a huge amount of money in the family, but I could ride! You can control this animal which weighs 10 times your weight. Riding, along with being smart were two things I did better than most my classmates. I didn’t have a horse of my own, but I would bicycle 5 miles to a classmate’s house and ride the pony she wasn’t interested in. In the summer I’d pack a lunch and be gone all day, riding bareback beside the river. When I got older I paid for riding lessons for myself. And as soon as I could afford it I could I bought my own horse. A horse makes you equal to…no, better than, the poor schlubs on the ground.
StG
PapSett - I went to a seminar recently held for riders with arthritis. The person putting on the seminar has RA, and has trained her stallion to kneel down so she can mount with ease. There are arthritic riders who compete in endurance races. Perhaps there’s a way you can ride, even if you aren’t able to maintain your own horse. Are you in Wyoming? It seems like it should be easy to board or lease a horse in WY.
StG
The problem with arthritis in my back is that the riding itself hurts me . And like I said , it’s not so much the RIDING I miss as the companionship . Just having that big ol’ body to lean on & hug , a velvety muzzle to kiss , blowing sweet hay-scented breath … heaven , simply heaven .
I don’t live in Wyoming , tho , I live in Southern Indiana , and the horse opportunities are very limited . .
Anna
I second all of that. I’d be hesitant to give a two-year-old a goldfish, let alone a pony. Hopefully you can get someone else to train and ride the pony- one of those devoted things who stays after hours mucking stalls 'cause she loves it but who can’t afford a horse of her own. Still, this just reeks of irresponsibility.
Forgot to mention that I started riding around nine and stuck with it for about a decade. The power, the discipline. Plus it’s an amazing workout. It’s a bit like the high you get when coasting on a bike across the countryside (but we get to jump the obstacles) or running a marathon, but it’s so much deeper than that. You’ve got to establish a trusting relationship with this animal, and make the most of non-verbal communication. Plus, yes, the gorgeousness of it all- velvet hats, braided hair, leather boots.