Horse Expo

[naomikritzer]

In the spring of 2003, when Molly was 2 1/2 and I was pregnant with Kiera, I spotted an ad for the Minnesota Horse Expo in the paper one day. The ad mentioned free horse and pony rides. Molly had gotten to ride Major, my mother-in-law's horse, when we'd visited Boston the previous fall, and had gotten a huge kick out of it, so we decided to go over to the fairgrounds (where the expo was being held) and check it out.

The expo was really pretty fascinating. Molly rode the ponies, and then rode the ponies again, and then the ponies were on break so she stood in line to ride a real horse. We weren't sure if they'd let her, but horse people start their own kids young: they shrugged and said that if she was willing to get on a horse she was welcome to ride it. The horses are all being led by a staff person, so it's not like the kid has to do anything other than hold on.

You also see all kinds of horses at this -- people who own horses bring them to the expo to show them off, and most are perfectly happy to stop and let you admire their animals. Probably the most fascinating thing I saw was a woman in a tiny carriage drawn by a miniature horse; she looked like she'd wandered out of fairyland.

We resolved that we absolutely had to come back, but for various reasons we didn't make it back until this year.

It was, once again, a lot of fun. We started out with a carriage ride, which (like the horse and pony rides) was free. (Free with admission, that is. It cost $8 each for me and Ed, and $5 for Molly; Kiera was free. But they got all the horse, pony, and carriage rides they wanted to stand in line for, and the lines were seldom all that long.) Molly rode a horse three times, and a pony once. Kiera watched the ponies with great interest, decided she'd like to ride one, got in line, changed her mind, watched them some more, got in line with Molly when Molly said she wanted to ride them, got all the way to the point of sitting on the pony, then bailed at the last minute and made me take her off.

We got to see a miniature horse's newborn foal, which was about the size of a medium-sized dog.

The animals I found most interesting this year were the donkeys and mules. I had always pictured donkeys as small, but they ranged in size from tiny (there were two miniature donkeys, one outfitted with a flowered hat) to huge. There was a donkey aficianado answering questions and telling everyone how underrated donkeys are. She described them as having an almost dog-like friendliness (if you have a pet donkey, your donkey will follow you around and pester you to pet it) while also being much steadier, stabler mounts than horses (horses get freaked out easily -- nothing bothers donkeys) and very smart (part of their reputation for stubbornness comes from the fact that they have a better self-preservation instinct than horses, and will refuse to walk on a path that doesn't look safe to them).

The foals (I'm not sure if these were donkey foals or mule foals) were cute while also being really weird looking. The legs were disproportionately long relative to the chubby, fuzzy body; that was topped off with the really long ears. They looked like a cross between a llama and a giraffe.

I looked up donkeys when I got home and found the American Donkey and Mule Society; apparently you can often get gelded male donkeys for really cheap, like $200-$300. If I had a hobby farm I think I might be at least slightly tempted. I don't have anywhere to keep a donkey in Minneapolis, though, so I'll have to pass. I may stick my next equine-riding fantasy protagonist on a donkey instead of a horse, though...

Comments

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

In the D&D game I play in my PC is a 4' tall gnome and is a donkey rider. Lots of the RPGs have good info on all types of equines.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

The Horse Expo sounds like a lot of fun; I'll have to put it on my calendar for next year. :)

[tg2k.livejournal.com]

Not that I like to encourage people into a hobby with a very long commitment, but...in most areas, you can find stables run by people, who are willing to have additional animals stabled there, for a fee. Sometimes they combine this with training (both for horse and rider). Yes, I said "horse" there--that's all I have second-hand experience with. I don't know about donkeys, but it's possible.

As for protagonists: For some reason I want to read about a "war donkey" now.

[naomikritzer]

Heck yeah! (About the war donkey, that is.)

It might not work out, though. Apparently donkeys have a much higher level of concern for their own well-being than horses do.

[rowan-redbeard.livejournal.com]

if you have a pet donkey, your donkey will follow you around and pester you to pet it

Indeed. A couple years ago we visited some of Jenizie's relatives north of Seattle, and they have a hobby farm. Through no fault of my own, I quickly made friends with their donkey, and he did exactly that for the next hour as we wandered around the place.

Yanno, though, you might be able to get a small pony. Just a few weeks ago I saw a neighbor walking a Shetland around the block along with her large dog. The dog, in fact, was larger than the pony, and less well behaved.

[naomikritzer]

You can housebreak a dog, even a very large dog. I'm pretty sure you can't housebreak a pony, even a very smart pony.

[olddog299.livejournal.com]

I don't know -- they've started using miniature horses as assistance animals for the hearing impaired. Be hard to imagine much tolerance for one not housebroken.

The mules are steady-footed and tractable, yet still have a high self-preservation streak. They aren't as friendly, but they don't pester you to death with nudges for pats and strokes, either. Far better for a "war horse".