On January 24th, we said good-bye to Sunny. She was 32 years old and had lived a full life.
Sunny was a very self-contained pony. She knew what she wanted and was not dependent on others for her contentment. Any young girls who came to the property fell in love with Sunny. They loved to groom her and decorate her with ribbons and glitter. She looked very satisfied, standing willingly while she was ‘glamoured’.
Being the centre of attention was not new for Sunny. She was a proud and successful show pony before going into retirement. Cara tells how well Sunny took care of her rider, and what a positive impression Sunny made on the audience who admired her self-assured presentation.
My favourite behaviour to watch was when Sunny did her theatrics in the pasture at feeding time. She would back up to a pasture mate who was eating hay, and do these harmless little back kicks while making shrieking sounds. She must have known that her actions would have no impact in moving the other horse. It was pure entertainment!
Perhaps she was gauging the other horse’s sense of humour, or simply promoting humour as an important life skill. Some horses got defensive and shooed her away. Landor had the most mutually engaging and theatrical response. He would walk right into her back-end, forcing Sunny to move forward. It looked like two playmates having fun in a Charlie Chaplinesque manner!
For me, the learning I will remember from our wise, orange pony is: look for the fun, be willing to look ridiculous, and don’t take attacks or conflict personally. Lessons for life. Thank you very much Sunny!
