The Pony Race

Jodie and I were often in competition with each other. She was the better rider, her pony could jump higher, and she competed at a higher level of competition, but I was never far behind, nipping at her heels.

We rode every day, taking the school bus out to her farm. First we would have a snack - her mom often left a jar of chocolate chip cookies for us - and then we would tack up and ride. For eleven-year-olds, we were pretty disciplined. We would do a dressage day, a jumping day, a trail ride day, rotating among them based on what we felt like doing and what we needed to work on. If we had an event coming up, we usually had a dressage test that needed memorization and practice.

I still remember one day so well it’s like a movie playing in my head. Jodie and I were feeling idle and lazy, maybe a little mischievous. We rode out to Cherry Creek bareback, with the lead rope knotted on either side of our ponies’ halters. On the way back, we decided to have a little race, see who was faster. Jodie’s pony Texas was bigger, the odds were on him.

We lined up Sparkle and Texas and dug our heels into their soft sides and raced down that gravel road, balls to the wall.

I had never gone so fast in a gallop before. It felt like riding air, a rippling wave of energy, rather than that the rocking horse sensation of a canter. I had never seen Sparkle like this - like a dragon. Ears pinned back, a side-eye on Tex, she ran to win.

Neck and neck they ran until we reached the end of the road. A drainage ditch appeared in front of us, as if it had dropped from the sky. Six feet wide and at least as deep, it was meant to capture irrigation water. It could kill a horse who fell in at these speeds.

In our speed Jodie and I had gone long past the safe finish line, without realizing it.

Jodie saw the ditch first, pulled hard, stopped Tex on his hindquarters. Sparkle and I saw it a beat later, too close to stop. Sparkle pricked her pointed chestnut ears and sailed over that ditch like Pegasus. We were in the air for forever until we landed safely on the other side.

Jodie and Tex trotted over to us, eyes wide. “Oh….my….god,” Jodie said in hysterical laughter. We cackled about it all the way home: how fast they had galloped, how we had lost control, how Sparkle had cleared a six foot ditch and I had stayed on, bareback.

Two friends, their faithful ponies, a dash of adventure: life doesn’t get any better.

Everyone has their story of the stupid thing they did; the time they almost died on horseback - this is mine.
Thanks for reading - I had so much fun writing this, remembering the fun Jodie and I had together before the problems started.