Those little legends of first ponies.

First ponies.
We've all had them, those naughty little rascals that know how to do everything they shouldn't, and also how to do everything that 5 year old horse mad girls need them to do.
I had two 'first' ponies, both as cheeky and loveable as each other.
The first was 'Lochlea Lamai' or 'Squidgie'. She came when i was 5 years old and my world revolved around her from day dot. She was perfect and amazing in everyway, she taught me how to walk, trot and canter and also how to sit a pigroot and always be on alert for sneaky things, e.g wrenching the reins out of my hands for the nibbles of grass arond the edge of the arena because she was obviously half starved, even though to look at most people would assume she was pregnant. Squidgie was a pinto pony, dark brown and white, about 12hh and 16 years old when she died of colic in my 7 year old arms. We tried everything to save her, the vet was there all day but in the end, when she couldn't fight anymore, we put her down to stop any suffering.
R.I.P Squidgie Moo, always loved and never forgotten.

The second 'first' pony was Lacey. And i say 'second first pony' because at 7 1/2 i wasn't ready for anything other than a 'close to bombproof as you can get' pony. Lacey was certainly that, she still had that 'I shall pigroot if you ask me to canter' attitude that Squidgie had, but thanks to Squidgie i was already an expert in sitting pigroots and rarely fell off.
Lacey was one of those ponies that had done everything, and done it well. She had done trail riding, showing, hacking, pony club, eventing, showjumping and games. The minute you put a bridle on lacey she would become rounded whether you asked her to or not. When she jumped she had the most perfect even tuck even over jumps 30cm high. However games were her specialty, her favourite game was racing my bigger horses from one end of the arena to the other, it would go like this:
Halting at the end of the arena, Lacey quivering with excitment.
Me shouting 'Ready?' to my oppoinent and Lacey's eyes getting as big as dinner plates.
And then, 'GO!' this was when Lacey would go from halt to gallop and run as fast as she could to the other end of the arena. She would ALWAYS win too.
After a year of having Lacey, (She was also a pinto pony, 12hh high and believed to be between 15-18 years old when we bought her.) we got the dentist around to have her teeth floated, upon looking in her mouth the dentist asked how old she was, and my father told him, '15 - 18years old.' Apparently not, this pony was already in her 30's and going strong. When i heard this i instantly forgave Lacey her pigroots, 30 years of cantering around an arena and i'd pigroot too.
6 months later we retired Lacey as i was finaly ready for a bigger horse, and she definately deserved to be turned out into a paddock to rest for the remainder of her life, still being pampered with brushing, bare back trail rides, rugging and lots of hugs.

First ponies are the horses who shape us as riders, determine the nervous from the confident, teach those of us who want to learn natural balance and how to look out for cheeky behaviour. We owe them our riding ability. I definately owe Squidgie and Lacey my (quite good actually) ability to sit a pig root! If i could i'd thank them for everything, they were unbelievable, amazing and incrediable ponies.