Whoever says that animals aren’t intelligent, has never owned a Shetland pony.
Gypsy was a tiny little dapple gray with a white mane and tail. She was a little beauty. Gypsy was also amazingly tolerant with the kids (not a trait that all Shetlands have). She was also very smart.
At first the kids were satisfied with mostly petting and leading Gypsy around, and occasionally tossed onto her back by either my husband or myself. Soon, they wanted to go the next step and ride more. They started coming to me more and more often. At one point I refused, I knew if I kept doing it for them they would never go that next step of learning to do things for themselves. “If you want to ride her, find a way.”
As I worked in the house, I would occasionally glance out to see what they were doing. Gypsy grazed away while the three little monsters tried to solve the problem at hand – climbing on her back.
At first, they tried to just jump on. Despite Gypsy’s small stature, the kids were still too little to manage this direct approach. Soon, they started trying to climb on things and figured out that a tall 5-gallon bucket was just the right height. I was very pleased with the way their problem-solving skills were going, but I soon got a good chuckle.
They set the bucket upside down next to Gypsy. One would help the other climb on the bucket and just as they got ready to swing a leg over, Gypsy suddenly found a delicious blade of grass just a step away. Leaving the child posed to get on, but just out of reach. Down they climbed from the bucket, moved it up beside Gypsy again, climbed on… and miraculously that special blade of grass showed up again, just that one step away. I got a good laugh (trying to make certain the kids wouldn’t hear me) as I watched the pony gently but blatantly outsmarting the kids.
It took about four times for the kids to realize that Gypsy was moving away on purpose, that’s when they figured out that one of them needed to hold her while the other two dealt with the bucket. With this realization, three little girls were soon triumphant and taking turns climbing on Gypsy’s back and leading each other around the yard.
