We have been trying to sell Smugs one of our Horses for over a couple of months. He is a really good Colt, laid back and very kind. He is a good price, in fact less that what it cost for the Sire covering fee. There have been a few people looking at him. Every one who has looked at him likes him. There is nothing to dislike. He is a popular size and an attractive horse. But that’s Horses, some sell to the first person who sees them, other just hang about.
A couple of years back we decided to sell a few of our pet smaller Ponies, Jazz, Bracken and Velvet, they were to small for any one on the farm to ride, and they would have made good riding Ponies for children. It was about this time of year that we put them up for sale. They had spent the Summer in the field where the Badger camera is. At one time it would have been partly an Orchard, there are still a couple of cooking apple trees in the field. Jazz was not really broken, but a women who liked him insisted on trying to ride him. She didn’t stay on Jazz to long, he bucked her off and ran up the drive. But she was not a time waster, for although finishing up on her backside after riding him, she did buy Jazz.
Bracken and Velvet were different, they were well broken, very calm and had never done any thing wrong in all the time that they were at Denbury. Bracken had been here for five years, she was a 13.2hh tubby Skewbald. That is a brown and white horse. Velvet had been here for about four years. She was a 12.2hh sleek dark bay, like Arnie and Misty. Coats that colour always shine, Velvet suited her well. We had so many enquiries on Bracken and Velvet, that in the end we got fed up with all the phone calls.
The first family that came to view Bracken and Velvet, came with their Daughter who the Pony was wanted for, she was about seven years old. We fetched the Ponies from the field back to the stables, to prepare and groom them so that they looked good before the people came to view them. We didn’t try to ride them as we knew that they would be faultless.
Bracken was saddled first to show to the family. She was walked into the yard to where the sand school is. Once through the gate the saddle girth strap was tightened and she was mounted, to be ridden to the sand school, to show the family how she rode before their Daughter got on the Horse. Instead of riding to the sand school Bracken started to twist around and generally play up. We couldn’t believe how she was acting, she was quickly dismounted and taken back to the stables. We made our apologise to the family, assuring them that this was a one off and that Velvet would be completely different. Velvet was saddled and taken the same way, girthed and mounted, as Bracken to show the family again before their Daughter rode her. This time it was even worse than Bracken, Velvet started to buck and race around, dumping her rider unceremoniously to the ground, she was acting like a Horse at a Western Rodeo. She was finally caught and walked back to the stables. As we passed the family, the little girl was hiding behind her Mother, clinging on to her Mothers hand, weeping, telling her Mother I haven’t got to ride her, have I?
We made our apologises to the family trying to assure them that this was the first time that the Ponies had ever acted like this, and it really was. We just could not understand why these wonderful Ponies had turned into lunatics. We didn’t expect the family to believe what we was telling them. They must have thought that we were dodgy Horse dealers.
We weren’t best pleased of how Bracken and Velvet had acted. Instead of the little treats that we would normally give them, they were taken straight back to their field. Taking through the gate we suddenly realised what had made them act as they did. Lying on the ground was a treeful of apple windfalls that many had been partly eaten. the Ponies had belly aches, tightening the saddle girths and mounting them had made their bellies hurt worse.