The Twins

"Wesley’s New Year’s Resolutions"

Emma & Sarah Simmons

(1/201) Hi. This is Wesley. I ’m Mike Hillman’s retired Event horse and I live at Windy Meadow Farm with my two best equine buddies, Kit and Scotty. Mike calls Scotty his ‘upper level horse’ and Kit is still a baby. But you probably know me best as the horse that Emma and Sarah ride and write about in their newspaper column, "The Young Equestrians". This month they asked me if I wanted to tell everyone about my New Year’s resolutions in their column. I thought this was a great idea since I am making several this year.

It‘s been a great year for me and my horse friends here at the farm. My twin girls have been riding for just over a year and they are coming along quite well. They have a good seat and are, for the most part, well balanced when they ride. Though both need to work on riding straight. Ok, I have to admit that sometimes I deliberately swerve just to see if they can keep me straight. It’s kind of fun for me because when I don’t walk straight, Mike corrects them and not me (ha ha).

Emma and Sarah are kind and gentle riders who never seem to get mad with me or my buddies, no matter what kind of mischief we cause. And they are getting to be quite good little jumpers as well. They can go over the jumps in the arena and the big logs out in the field. I’ve really been amazed at how quickly they have learned to jump. But I also have to admit that I’ve not always been completely cooperative. Sometimes I run out (go around rather than over the jump) and sometimes I, well, I just stop in front of the jump.

I know that’s not a nice thing to do but it is kind of funny, especially when I do it time after time after time. But I did feel really bad when I accidently let my little Emma fall. But she didn’t scold me. She just gave me a pet and got right back on my back and we got back down to work. She even gave me apples afterwards. Sarah is a great kid too. When that crazy Scotty took my sweet Sarah for an unexpected run around the big meadow and she tumbled off him, she didn’t get angry. And I heard her talking softly to him when they got back to the barn and I saw her give him a kiss and a carrot too. So, I’m resolving to stop playing run out and stop at the jump games. . . or maybe just not quite so often. A horse does have to have a little fun with his riders.

All in all, it’s been a good year here at Mike and Audrey’s farm. But I think I can help make this year even better with these resolutions. I’ve been working on them since Christmas and Kit and Scotty have helped with them too. In addition to curbing my riding games, I want to be more considerate of the humans here. I have to admit that there have been times that I have been a little too pushy, especially when it comes to food and snacks. Like all horses, I do love peppermints, carrots, and apples. So, when I see and smell them, I get a little overly enthusiastic. Ok, ok, I go completely crazy and can only think about how wonderful they taste. And I sometimes forget how much bigger I am than my little twins. So, we horses need to just stand back and wait for the food, torturous as that will be.

Mike, of course, doesn’t let us horses get away with that kind of behavior. Unlike the girls, he make us mind our manners. And I will admit that sometimes when we horses get in trouble with Mike, he doesn’t always see what we do behind his back. Sometimes we make faces at him., but this is mostly Kit and Scotty. Ok, I do it sometimes too. It’s usually when he’s walking around with something else on his mind. I can always tell when this happens because he has those funny bubbles over his head with strange letters, numbers, and symbols in them. I think he must be a really smart guy to have that much going on in his head. So, this is something else I want to work on this year, being more respectful of Mike. He’s a great guy and he does take good care of me and my buddies. And I know that not all horses get treated as well as we do.

So, these are my resolutions for 2021. I’m going to walk the straight and narrow, no stalling at the jumps, keep the twins off the ground, don’t crowd my girls when they are trying to feed us, and be more respectful of Mike. I’m going to try hard to keep these resolutions. But if I don’t, it’s probably because of Kit and Scotty. After all, I am a herd animal, and if Scotty and Kit go running , I have no option but to follow them! Right?

Oh, and there’s one more. The most important one. I can’t believe I almost forgot it. I promise to always, always love my little twin girls.

And just so you know, Emma and Sarah helped me with the column since I don’t have a computer or iPad. And even if I did have one, I couldn’t use it very well - - hooves, no hands. I hope you enjoy this month’s column. I really enjoyed being a guest columnist. Maybe if it’s popular and everyone emails Mike, who’s also the Editor of the newspaper, he might consider giving me a regular column of my own!