It’s not very often a twelve hand pony can almost kill you twice in an hour. It’s even less likely to live to tell the tale. Although some people say it’s impossible, I’m unfortunately able to tell you that it is indeed possible, considering I’ve experienced it first hand. It was a warm summer day, perfect for a trail ride. My friend’s pony, and my mount for the day, Oreo, and her horse, Cody, were tacked up, and we headed down to the trails.

When we reached our destination, I vaulted onto Oreo, and my friend, Mrs.Delfarno mounted Cody from a large rock. We were on our way, walking, trotting, and cantering through the trails. Oreo’s little legs couldn't keep up with Cody’s long ones, and soon enough, we lost sight of them.

“Wait up!” I called, urging Oreo forward with a squeeze of my legs and a tap on his flank with my crop. Oreo cantered forward, looking for his big brother. I saw the log before Oreo did, and quickly turned him away from the barrier in our path. Mrs. Delfarno and Cody were just beyond it, Cody neighing anxiously for Oreo. I quickly calculated that Oreo could jump the log, and circled him away so that we would have a clear path to the jump.

“C’mon boy!” I whispered to Oreo, whose ears swiveled back to catch my voice. “ 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2,” I counted under my breath, voicing what three years of horseback riding lessons had taught me about jumping.

“Go O!” Mrs.Delfarno cheered, looking excitedly at her pony and I. As we approached our makeshift cross country jump, I went up into a half seat, the English jump position. Oreo looked perfect, his legs set up under him like a hunter-bred warmblood, when suddenly...WHAM! My jaw collided into Oreo’s skull, which was much higher set than the Quarter Horse crosses I was used to jumping on. We landed with a jolt, and I could taste blood in my mouth

Oreo, however, seemed pleased with himself, and turned his head around to look at me, as if he were neighing, “What’s going on? I looked like a National Show Pony!” I patted him on the neck, and then gingerly reached up into my mouth. My left bottom front tooth was chipped badly, and my whole bottom row of teeth were knocked loose. My mouth had blood trickling out of it, like a red stream.

  “Do you want to go back?” Mrs. Delfarno asked, looking worried. Even Cody had come over and bumped his huge head against my shoulder. But of course, next to daring and courage, stubbornness is one of my prominent traits.

“I’m OK, we can keep going,” I insisted, wiping my mouth on my gloved hands. We continued onward, going through our usual trail, then started looping back around. As we reached the area where we needed to cross a bridge to return, Oreo found something of interest: a maple tree sapling, its branches reaching up towards the sun. Although many people would admire this sight, Oreo likes to eat leaves. He backed up, his mouth open, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Unfortunately, we were half way up a bridge ramp, and Oreo’s hind legs fell off the edge.  I quickly dismounted and tried to help him get back up. His rear end shook with effort as he hauled his 600 pound body up. When he finally managed to pull himself out of the ditch, he pranced right up to me as I stood at the other end of the bridge, looking worriedly at his left hind leg, which yielded a limp. After hugging him profusely, and repeatedly whispering,”You complete idiot! What were you thinking? You need to be careful!”, I took a closer look at his legs. They were caked with blood from where he fell, and he had lost most of the hair on his inner legs, for it was scraped off by the rough wood of the bridge.

I refused to get back on Oreo, for fear that I would injure him more, and my faithful pony plodded along beside me the whole mile long trail. Throughout this event, Cody was excessively worried about his little buddy, and spent a good five minutes examining Oreo, who stood patiently.

When we got back to the barn, I carefully cleaned up, Oreo’s cuts, and iced down his leg, which looked slightly swollen. We put him in a heavily bedded stall, isolated so he could get some rest, much to Cody’s dismay.

As I drove back home after that memorable day, I thought about how much that ride had reflected my relationship with Oreo. Although we have some rocky patches, and can’t quite see eye to eye, we always come back to life’s greatest characteristic: love. That day really set in stone for me the saying: The people (and horses!) who ride together, stick together.