The Pony Ride…

We’ve been getting a lot of our produce from an Amish market down here for years. I remember when it was just a few food stalls in a circle and now it has really grown up. Over the years they have added buildings and changed the store alot, but it is still run by the same Amish family that did when I was a child. Once in a while they advertise pony rides for a dollar or two. I always said no until today.

Today the children probably around ten years old or so were running around changing the two dollar signs to one dollar and I decided that Maddie deserved a treat. I asked the children where we went for the rides thinking that she would get to ride a pony in a circle in the yard or something with one of them leading it but they surprised me. I went and got Maddie out of the truck and they brought around the pony complete with a two seated green pony cart and a pair of young drivers. They told me I could come along for free so Maddie wouldn’t be so scared. I figured we would ride around the yard and barn where they had been driving a little earlier but no, they drove right down their own farm lane behind the big barn beside the store. These children told us all about what we were passing as we passed it and they gave us some information about the farm and the kind of horses that their cousins were driving for auction. We got to see so much more of the Amish farm than I had ever seen before. The driver (a young boy) turned the cart around in the alfalfa field and he had to slap the reins a little because the pony thought it would steal a mouth full of alfalfa before heading back. I could tell he had a good firm touch with the reins but didn’t over rein his horse.

Maddie was a little terrified but was interested in the whole experience. I was so impressed by this and Maddie got to see where a lot of her favorite foods came from. I so would have paid even more for this experience if I would have known what it involved and it made me realize I need to carry a little more cash more often because I would have paid the kids more if I would have had it.