Uploaded February 2011 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

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about two years ago, pons came to my barn. i didn't know anything about him, i didnt know his past, i didnt know what he was capable of. i didn't know how amazing he was.
back then, i still referred to him as his actual name "sparrow". his owner had watched a couple lessons of mine, and soon enough, she asked me to get on him one day.
i flatted him around a little bit, and by then, i had heard that he was a pony jumper, but i still had no clue what he was capable of. his owner set up one jump across the diagonal for me to jump.
before i jumped it, she told me, "sit back, relax, and just let him do his job". soon enough, the jump got to 3 foot (which at the time was big for me), and we did it perfect. every single time.

pons ended up getting injured some time after this, and had several months off. in the summer, he started getting back to work, and his owner asked me to help with rehabbing him and getting him into shape.
everyday we would go trail riding and soon enough "sparrow" was being replaced with "pons" and "boogs". by this time, i had finally seen how amazing he was, from pictures and videos, but never in person.

by the fall, he was back into full work. and in novemberish, i walked into the barn for my lesson and to see who i was riding. his owner told me pons! super excited, i got him all tacked up and everything and the lesson started.
she kept on putting up the jumps higher and higher until they were about 3'3. i had never done anything like this before, let alone on a 14 hand pony! i wasnt scared, i wasnt nervous. i was having fun. for the first time in forever, i was having fun riding. there was a HUGE grin on my face and everyone could see that.
at the end of the lesson, his owner asked me if i wanted to show him at our shows at our barn, and i could decide if i wanted to do the 2'6 or 3 foot. i, of course, said YES!

she told me that i had "to have balls" to do the jumpers and i had to "go out of my comfort zone and be gutsy". i was ready to take that chance.

from then on, me and pons improved together as a team at every show. we went from getting 3rds and decent ribbons, to winning every time out.
we had our ups, where i felt that we were unstoppable as a team, and we had our downs, where i couldn't get around in a single class.
he's made me frustrated, he's brought me in tears,

but you know what? he's the most important thing in my life.
when i felt depressed and like i would never be happy again in my life, he was there. for a long time, he was the only thing that could cheer me up, and make me genuinely happy.
when i ride him, everything else just seems to disappear, and its just me and him. he understands me, and he knows exactly what im thinking and feeling. i dont know where my life would be without him. he makes me believe and have confidence in myself. he has made me the rider and person i am today.
i know exactly what hes thinking at all times, and i dont know what i would do without him. they say that a rider will always find that one special horse that they connect with, and that's him.

There comes a point in every rider's life when they wonder if it's all worth it. Then one look at their horse, and they realize - it is.

sure pons isnt young. sure he doesnt have the best conformation. sure he's not the most sane thing in the ring. sure he's not a welsh or a warmblood or whatever.
but you know what? i wouldn't want to change a thing about him. he always makes me laugh and smile when i ride him, whether its the way he'll sometimes jump straight up in the air when he does his changes, the way he tries to buck but fails, or the way he takes off with me when we're jumping and makes my hands bleed and arms burn.
when he does something stupid, im always the first one to laugh.

its the little things that he does that make me love him so much. how he follows me around, how he runs to me when he sees me opening his turn out gate. how he neighs at me when he sees me at the end of the aisle, how i just let him sit in the grooming stall with no cross ties when im tacking him up.
he is truly the pony of a lifetime.

some people ask if i ever get scared when i ride him, because he looks dangerous. i just smile, and laugh to myself and say no, because in fact, i feel more safe on him than anything i've ever ridden. i know that he would never ever intentionally hurt me.

so say what you want about him, because to me, he will always be known as, "the best pony that ever lived".
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honors♥
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