Charmer had almost 2 weeks off prior to this (stupid busy schedule!), and all I had the chance to do that afternoon was a quick 10 minute lunge session. He came out great for the lunge, and was super respectful and stretchy on the line. Since he was being so good and my schedule was jam packed, I threw him back out in the pasture.
Fast forward to about 3 hours later, the families began to arrive and so I pulled out Charmer & his tack and gave him a quick brush and tacked him up super fast. He was great for that. I then pulled out a bunch of small carrot chunks that I had chopped up earlier and taught the 5 girls how to feed him. He was confused by their tiny hands, but tried so hard to be respectful and kind. Once we fed him a few carrots, it was time for the first ride. I led him up to the mounting block and let the first girl get on.
His ears quietly flicked back and forth for a moment, and then he relaxed and licked and chewed. We took a couple small laps around the driveway and he was very polite and gentle. I think he could tell these girls had never ridden before and were a little nervous.
Then we put up the 5 year old, who was thrilled. And again, Charmer plodded along like a good little lesson pony, without so much as a flick of his tail.
We continued with two more riders, a 14yo and the 2yo, who both had pretty big smiles once they got up there! Charmer had a momentary almost-spook with one of them, when the neighbor kids made some noise. But again, he remembered he had some very small and precious cargo at the time and stood stock still and didn't flinch.
The one who was probably the most thrilled was the 4yo, who is a little bit of a daredevil (and tried to ride one handed for a little while!).
After all was said and done, I was really impressed that there were no tears from any of the girls! I used to do a lot of pony parties, and especially for really little kids, it was always kind of a tossup if they would cry. And Charmer is a solid foot taller than half of those ponies we used to use! But all we got were tons of huge smiles. I will say my smile may have been the biggest though. It takes a special kind of horse to be able to handle small children, let alone one who is also as talented under saddle with a real rider as Charmer is. I told all of the girls afterward to give him a big pat and carrot, because he was very kind to let them ride him. And I also told them that they have now had the pleasure of riding one of the absolute coolest horses that I've ever gotten to ride, and I've ridden a lot of them! They all thought that was pretty cool.
Charmer is such an incredibly special horse. I just never know how I got so lucky. I don't know how many 8yo OTTBs, who have had 2 weeks off, would be willing to tote around some small children who have never ridden before. Its not very often you stumble across a horse like this. I just love him so much! Sorry for the sappy brag post, but I think he is just so awesome!
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