Archie isn't really that big, at 15.1 hands high (4 inches to the "hand") he is--average. I am, at 5' 3", possibly a bit less than average, but we seem to suit each other. I can reach his back to curry and blanket, reach his head to bridle and could, if desperate enough, climb on board from flat ground, if the stirrup leathers and Archie's mane were long enough. At this point, they're not.
I wear my stirrup leathers (I ride "long") at hole number two from the bottom, a fact I thought incredible and amazing-my legs had finally grown as I had known they always would, even if it had taken 40 years--until I realized I had purchased "junior" leathers--or leathers for short people.
My granddaughter Aquinnah, 4, although tall for her age, is...still short. When she rides Archie, I have to double wrap the leathers and still buckle them in on the top hole. My fancy easy -on- the- knees stirrups are too big for her small feet but she doesn't mind. In fact, she quite likes being on top of the world and orders Archie around very much the same way she does her little brother. When she gives Arch a small thump with her heels to get him moving on, her boots (much like my crop) land on his saddle blanket rather than his sensitive sides, but Archie moves on anyway.
He stretches his nose to her when she stands before him, buckles his brushing boots, or curries his belly with her small- hands pink curry comb. He reaches gently down to politely accept a few peppermint pony treats from her carefully flat, pony feeding palm. I remind her not to offer her fingers as snack. We both lead Archie from his field to the barn or barn to the field, I hold the leadline closest to Archie's nose, and Quinnah holds the "bight" of leftover line. She proudly marches with huge pony steps to keep up with this gentle animal who is nearly three times her size.
Last week when Quinnah was riding Arch, she demanded I lead over the flat caveletti and then asked when she would be jumping the fences in the far field.
Tomorrow?
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