I’ve spent the last couple of days at BETA International, and one of the talks today got me thinking about something much bigger than products, rugs or running Little Hooves.
How do we make the equestrian world more accessible and encourage more people into it?
It made me think about ponies in particular.
We talk a lot about pony ownership, but some of the most important ponies in people’s lives have never actually belonged to them.
It might have been the riding-school pony who taught you to ride. The pony you helped look after for a friend. A therapy pony. The pony you begged your parents for but never got. Or simply the one you went to see whenever you had the chance.
For children especially, I think ponies can teach an extraordinary amount.
Responsibility is the obvious one, but there is so much more. Patience when things don’t happen immediately. Resilience when something goes wrong. Confidence. Empathy. Learning to read body language when somebody can’t tell you in words what they’re thinking. And discovering that sometimes another living thing’s needs have to come before your own.
You don’t necessarily need to own a pony to experience any of that.
It also made me think about Little Hooves.
I started Little Hooves because I felt ponies were underrepresented in an industry largely built around horses. But perhaps representing ponies shouldn’t only mean finding rugs and tack that actually fit them.
I’d love Little Hooves to become somewhere for people who love ponies, whether there’s currently one standing in their field or not.
That might mean sharing more about pony care and understanding their behaviour. Meeting some of the people doing interesting things with ponies. Looking at the different careers you can have in the equestrian world. And finding ways for children and adults to get involved even when pony ownership isn’t possible.
I’ve come away with far more ideas than I have time to implement — which is probably dangerous!
But I’d love to start by asking one very simple question:
Who was the first pony you really loved — and did they actually belong to you?
Mine, of course, eventually led to Little Hooves.
Small but Mighty