Ponydad: The Holiday Count Down Calendar and Stuff
Ponydad Thomas Pelle Veng takes a moment to reflect on the insanity that is the holidays for all of us — especially equestrians.
There’s no getting around it, no matter how big a half volte you make, the holidays knock on the stable door, and it is, for a lot of us, time for the heavy rugs.
“Cheerful” Pony Games
I shouldn’t have been surprised when Ponymom told me that we were going to spend a lot of “cheerful” Christmas time in the stable. But when the shopping trip is extended by an hour because “Our pony” has arranged gift games for his mates in the stable it’s just too much.
Inflatable Santas
Not long ago there was a consensus that all the beautiful but frightening pumpkin heads, ghosts and cobwebs in the competition arenas were a bad idea: “My pony was so scared of them, and that’s why I didn’t score higher at that show.”
But horse girls obviously have memories like goldfish (“Look! There’s a castle. Wow, what a fine castle. Hey, where did that castle come from?”) when it comes to Christmas, because it’s as if the rally in the house of evil just a month ago had never happened the moment Last Christmas blasts out of the speaker for the first time.
Thoughts such as “they could have put the straw bales with the pumpkin heads a little further away from the track,” and “is it really necessary to have so many cobwebs,” are with George Michael’s butter-like voice in the ears in a split second, replaced by thoughts such as “Wow, that old nail above the letter A would be the perfect place for one of those funny inflatable Santas.”
Time of Forgiveness
Christmas is the time of hearts. The time when we forgive each other and the stupid horse in the neighboring box, when it once again has eaten half of our pony’s tail. It is this time of year where we find the strength to even forgive the strange lady who never molds her box properly and just cold starts the poor horse of hers.
It is now you horse girls really must show your Ponydad/man that you love him and remember that he meant well when he fitted the stable’s most expensive sales horse with antlers and a Christmas cover on the day of its showing. His heart was in the right place.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday,
Ponydad / Thomas Pelle Veng
About Thomas Pelle Veng:
Seven years ago, Thomas’ daughter started riding. As a man in a world dominated by women and only armed with a knowledge of horses that was limited to visits at Copenhagen ZOO and cowboy movies, his learning curve has been steep. But instead of giving up, Thomas chose to take advantage of the many hours waiting in the barn and wrote the book “A Guide to Live as a Ponydad” and began blogging about all the things he did not and still doesn’t understand about horses and horse girls.
Thomas has a 16-year-old daughter and a full-time job as an HR Business Partner in Denmark’s largest car company, so there are always things to do, and it can sometimes be difficult to find the time. Especially after his daughter fell in love with a 350 kg heavy pony called Boogie.
