A Special Gift from Pop

When we got older, one day Pop said to me, “I have a surprise for you, and it will be here this afternoon.”

“Oh, what is it?” I asked Pop.

He replied, “It is a surprise. You have to wait and see.”

After lunch, I was outside when a big truck, towing a horse trailer, came up the lane. I called out to Pop and told him that someone was coming. He came out of the barn and walked over to me.

The truck pulled into the circle of the drive, and the driver got out. He shook Pop’s hand, and then Pop introduced me as one of the three grandchildren this gift was for. I said hi, and the man gestured to the trailer. As we neared the door, I heard a sound and asked, “It’s a horse, isn’t it?” When he opened the door, there was a pony inside. The man told me his name was Togo and explained that his children had outgrown Togo, but the pony still needed to be ridden regularly. He and Pop had decided that my siblings and I would be perfect for this.

As the man led Togo out, I expressed how excited I was and assured him we would take good care of the pony. I then took the rope and showed Togo his new stall in the barn, and got some feed for him. Noticing the stall was ready, I realized Pop had prepared in advance. As the man and Pop entered the barn, the man, seeing Togo settling in, expressed his satisfaction and then said he had to leave. Before he did, I thanked him for Togo.

Pop informed me that Togo needed his exercise every day. He also mentioned that my older half sister and brother were almost too big to ride him, so I’d be riding him the most. Just then, my siblings came into the barn. They revealed they’d known about Togo and that it had been kept a surprise for me. My brother then asked if he could walk Togo around the farm, and Pop agreed. When my brother asked about the saddle, we found it inside the barn. My sister and Pop helped to saddle Togo, and soon I was preparing for my first ride. I needed assistance at first, but as time went on, I became more confident. By the time I could ride Togo by myself, my siblings had outgrown him, making him all mine.

Pop then asked, “Are you ready to take the first ride on Togo?”

Eagerly, I replied, “Yes, I’m ready.”

With Pop’s help, I mounted Togo, and my brother led us around the driveway. As we did, my mom came up the lane. She admitted she’d known about the surprise, revealing that Pop had asked her if it would be okay to get Togo for us. She had, of course, said yes.

Grandma came out on the porch also to see what was going on. “Oh, I see the pony is here,” she called out to us. So I said, “Okay, everyone knew about this except me. Oh well.” I added, “I love my surprise. Togo is great, and I will take good care of him, I promise.”

By the end of the summer, I was riding Togo all by myself. The first thing I did when I got up in the morning was say to Mom, “I’m going up to take good care of Togo.” I cleaned out his stall once a week, and I rode him every day. When school started in the fall, when I got home, I went right up to take Togo for a ride. He would be out in the field that was fenced in, so I would get the bridle and bring him over to the barn to get the saddle on, and off we would go. By the next summer, Pop told me that we would have to do something else for Togo, for he was getting older and that I would not be able to ride him much longer.

My brother one day said, “Why don’t we do pony rides for the children of the island? We could charge twenty-five cents a ride, and this way Togo would get his exercise, and we could help with the cost of the feed.”

Pop said, “That sounds like a good idea. We could put up a sign in the school.”

I said, “Okay, can I make the sign?”

Pop said, “Of course, you can.”

I made a sign saying, “Pony rides at Cartwright road at the Price farm. They will be after school at 4:00. On the weekends at 2:00. The cost will be 25 cents a ride. Please come and get a real pony ride.” After I got it done, I showed it to Pop, and he said, “That is great. You did a good job.” When I went to school the next day I asked if I could put it on the board in the hallway, and I was told, “Sure.”

That afternoon, I was up getting Togo ready. I was still riding him, but not as long for I was starting to be too big for a long ride. I walked him over to where we walked him, and then I got on him and walked him around a little. Then I saw a car coming up the lane. It was a teacher in the school. She said she saw the sign and brought her daughter for a ride. “Okay, we are ready.” I walked Togo over to where they were standing, and I got off Togo. The little girl was smiling and could not wait to get a ride. I said hi to her and told her that this was Togo, and he would love for her to take a ride.

My brother had just gotten there, and he said he would walk Togo. So we put her up on the saddle, and off they went. We had planned on five times around the circle that we had made. I was standing with the mom, and she asked where to pay for her daughter’s ride. We had a coffee can with a slit in the top, and I showed her the can. Norman walked her the five times, and he asked her if she wanted to go around a few more times. Yes, she told him, and off they went again. The teacher started to go over to the can again, but I said, “No, since no one else is here, Togo needs to be walked, so you don’t have to pay again.”

“It’s no problem. She is having a real good time.” So the mom put something into the can anyway.

When they were done, my brother took her off; then he asked her mom if she could ride him back to the barn. “That would be so nice, sure,” she said. He put her back on the saddle, and off we all walked with them back to the barn. She had a great time and asked if she could come back again, and he told her, “Sure, as long as it is okay with your mom.” She then ran over to her mom and asked if they could come back again. She said, “Of course, we will come back.” She then thanked us, and they walked over to their car and drove back down the lane.

I had picked up the can when we headed for the barn, and I thought it was funny that it didn’t rattle with fifty cents in it. I opened the lid, and there was two dollars in the can. I couldn’t believe that she gave us so much. I told my brother, and he said, “Great, that will help Pop a lot.” Pop walked into the barn and asked how things went with the pony rides, and I told him that the young girl had a real good time, and they gave us two dollars instead of fifty cents. Pop said that was great, and there might be more coming tomorrow, and I answered, “I hope so.”

The next day, more cars were coming up the lane. I called out to Norman, “Here they come. Can you help again?” He came over, and three cars stopped. The car doors opened, and a bunch of little children came running over to where we were. I asked them if they were coming for a pony ride, and all at once they said yes. “Okay, then get in a line, and we will start,” I told them. “His name is Togo.” Then I told the parents that there was a can where they could put the money. We took the first child in line and walked him over to get the saddle put on.

This went on until school got out. Then I told the parents that we would still be doing rides, but the time would be changing to 1:00 p.m. every day when school was out. Every day, at least ten or more children came. It was fun when that first young girl came back. She would say to us, “Do you remember me? I was the first to ride Togo.” I would answer her by saying, “Of course, I remember you, and since you were the first, you will always get a slightly longer ride because you are such a special little girl.”

When fall came, we continued until it got too cold for the children and Togo. By spring, he was getting too frail for the pony rides, so we posted a sign that he had to retire. Every Saturday and Sunday, cars would come up the lane. Parents brought their children just to see Togo. They would walk over to him, say hi, and pet him. I think the parents thought it would be a great experience to see a farm. They asked some questions, and I was glad to show them around. This slowed down over time, until all the children who had rides had come to see the farm. It was a wonderful experience having all these children see how the farm worked. The photo below shows my grandson Jake on a pony just like Togo at my sister’s farm upstate. My son Brian is holding him just like we did with Togo.

This is my grandson Jake with his father, Brian, my oldest son, giving him a ride on a small horse at my sister’s farm in Maine one summer when we went up to stay with her for a few days. It’s like history repeating itself.