Meet Blackjack

(Looking stylish in this zebra number from Jen and Hartley... thanks guys!!!)

Who exactly did we welcome into our family the same day we celebrated Ella's second birthday?

Meet Blackjack! He is Ella's pretty little pony! (pictured here with Spotsy, Paige's little one.)

Now, being the town girl I am, I was a bit skeptical of this whole pony business. When these ponies became available to us, I just said, "yeah, that'd be so fun!" and came home and bombarded Spencer with every single question I could think of concerning the care of ponies. (I wonder if he ever second guesses marrying a foreigner to ranching -- I do know how to open and close gates though :)) He just sort of laughed it off and told me that usually Clydesdale ponies are pretty high maintenance, and so we would just have to check them out before we made any decisions. Sort of like a test drive for a new vehicle.

Oh what a test drive it was. Consider us sold.

Actually, the grandparents were sold the most. They decided that these ponies were just what the kids needed. And they are really nice ponies, who are really good with the kids. (Can you believe how little they are?)

Ella was a little bit timid at first, and really preferred leading Blackjack around as opposed to riding him.

But once they got him saddled up (with Grandpa John's old saddle) she warmed up a bit and had fun as Spencer and Grandma Mary led her around.

The birthday kids enjoyed a ride together, too!







So while I'm still not an expert on horses, by any means, I do know that Blackjack will be a really nice pony for both the girls. I mean, what's a cowgirl without her horse?