Pony Activities

Today I'll cover some activities that a pony can be expected to participate in :

Pulling a cart, or carting, is perhaps one of the easiest aspects to get into, as the carts do the most of the work.

All the pony really has to do is steer and control the speed. Some owners or trainers direct pony by using only whip commands. This helps keep the pony paying attention.

I have recently had a special cart steering HUD made, to help direct the pony more accurately only by whip commands, with the idea of training ponies on carting while blindfolded. This is not something for the faint-hearted, or the inexperienced to try.

Saddle ponies are much the same as cart ponies, only the rider is a little closer to the business end. This is much less commonly seen around the farms, ranches and stables of SL.

Steeplechase is a race against the clock, jumping hedges, fences and various other obstacles and is actually much harder than it looks at first. With a little practice, you will soon be getting good times on the course.

Slalom simply involves a short run (walk really in SL to keep a standard across the various pony sims) weaving between poles, and this is usually timed. Touching one of the poles imposes a time penalty. Again, this is not as easy as it looks but with practice, a perfect run in a good time will soon follow.

Dressage is perhaps the least common pony activity, though is the best in my opinion for a pony to show off at. This involves precision walking on the pony’s part around a set number of walks: from a simple figure 8 around the white lines, to a slalom, to a short straight line walk. Easy? Try it sometime and see for yourself.

Barrel racing is a reasonably new thing in pony play, and simply involves running or walking around 3 fixed barrels, without touching them, and across the start/finish line as quickly as possible.To get good times, you need to get close going around the barrels, but too close and you touch them - imposing a time penalty.

One of the most enjoyable activities for a pony, is the act of dressing the pony in their tack, and of grooming and bathing after an extensive session.

There are obviously still other activities which can involve a pony, one of which, if you can find a willing victim, is fox hunting. Though this is a rarer event, it is something I would like to consider expanding on. I have participated once in this activity, and it is rather good fun.

Next week we will take a look at some basic pony etiquette.