Amber’s Pony Tales writing competition

Vivien Williams, 10 from Lancashire put pen to paper to relive one of her fave horsey memories for a writing competition. Vivien won first prize in the 10 and under section of the Amber’s Pony Tales comp, and as part of her prize her awesome entry is appearing here on the PONY mag website.

Do the Shetland shake!

My fave memory took place when I was four. It was funny (afterwards) and a bit shocking (at the time), and it helped me learn to always get back on my pony and never, ever use too much shine spray!

For as long as I could remember, or even before, my parents always told me that I adored horse and ponies, and I still do to this day. I always wanted to go to Pony Club with my sister and brother like the big kids and not just be the baby sister. They let me sit on their ponies, but I always had to be dragged off screaming when the real fun started.

But one day, Mum said to me, “Vivien, you are getting a pony.” As you can guess I was overjoyed! We collected him in our old green trailer on our way back from Pony Club with my sister and her pony Jadey. When I first saw him, I loved him!

He was a Shetland and called Paddy, a chestnut with flaxen mane and tail and I knew he was pure gold!  Paddy still lives with us. He’s 25 and the boss of everything and everyone. This story takes place when I was about four and I went to Pony club to ride, and not just watch and eat food. RIDE! As you can tell, I was super happy!

Before we went to our first Pony Club show, I washed and washed Paddy and used nearly a whole bottle of super shiny show spray. I wanted him to look his best.  When we got to the show, I added a bit more super shiny show spray, just in case. As we were about to put his saddle on I splashed a bit more on. Man, I was super wrong to do that. Mum put his saddle on and I got on and trotted over to the other children and the all-important judge.

I was riding Paddy across the field, totally impressing the judge – just saying! And then SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE AND SLIP! It felt like a volcano had exploded, or an earthquake had moved the earth. And there I was…. sitting on the ground.

I looked around for the 30 seconds I was left sitting on the floor, wondering what had happened and looking at everyone laughing. Then my Mum put me back on Paddy and we joined the others. That was how I found out about the Shetland Shake – Paddy had done a full body shake while trotting and I had slipped off. All the super shiny show spray had helped make the saddle super slippery.

I joined in laughing too. I felt like I was really part of Pony Club now. My brother and sister had stories about falling off and now I had one too.

Paddy and I got a rosette and I had a bacon sandwich, so the day ended well despite the Super Shetland Shake Off!