The fair has been in town here for the last two weeks, and last weekend I took my kids. They had a petting zoo and a pony ride, and a contest. If you ride the pony, you can fill out a ticket to win either a pony, or $300. I filled out a ticket for each of the kids, and we left. My daughter really latched on to the idea though (she’s four), and she’s been talking all week about the pony. She’s been absolutely certain she was going to win, and she asks every day, “When can we go get my pony? Can I ride it home from the fair?” I sat down with her a couple times and told her that she probably wasn’t going to win the pony, but she was very insistent that she would be the winner.
Well, she was right and I was wrong. Yesterday, the phone rang. When I answered, a woman asked for my daughter. I said I was her mother, and she said, “Your daughter won the pony at the fair. Do you want the pony, or the money?” My daughter was at her dad’s, so I said, “I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to her about it.” She said they would deliver it somewhere for us, but they had to deliver it today, and to come up to the fair to claim it.
I called her dad, and we all decided to go together. When he told her, she said, “They called? Finally! Let’s go get my pony!” She wasn’t even surprised! We got directions to go in the back way, and after we parked they said they wanted to take her picture with the pony. This whole time we were calling around, trying to figure out what we were going to do. I finally got in touch with a stable that answered the phone. I explained what had happened, and the woman was very helpful. She asked if the pony was saddle trained, and I said I didn’t know. She said, “If it isn’t saddle trained, take the money and run.” When I asked how much it was to keep the pony there, she said it would probably be about $250 a month. Whoa. This was pretty far out of my budget. I told my ex-husband about it, and we both started to panic.
Then they brought out the pony. He was brown with white spots, and only seven months old. He wasn’t saddle trained, and he was skittish around the kids for the picture. The man handling him said we could probably begin to saddle train him (how??) in about a year and a half or so. Okay. So, I took my daughter aside and explained to her that we couldn’t take the pony. She started to cry, but I explained to her that she had just won a lot of money, and I would take her shopping and she could buy a whole My Little Pony playset.
Her dad came over, and handed her the money. She started fanning herself with it and said, “You know, I’m fine just the way I am. I don’t need a pony, no. Let’s go shopping!”
We went to Target and she went nuts. She bought her brother the big castle set he’s been lusting after for months, along with a couple movies and candy. She went down the girl toy isle, grabbing all sorts of things and dumping them in the basket. I went behind her and put some things back, but mostly I let her have whatever she wanted. She paid the cashier herself, too.
Overall, it was a completely crazy day. I’m glad we have pictures of her with the pony, but I’m very glad we decided not to take it. What a huge responsibility! My daughter seems really happy too, and she still has almost $100 left. What a lucky girl! 
