Zbigniev Wierbitszki owned a pony club in the outskirt of Brussels. Zbigniev liked his vodka and many gymkhanas turned into small dramas when he poured with a light hand (at every gymkhanas.) A pat on the back became a shove accompanied with a big hearty laugh (and many Polish words no one could understand) and if his whip caught you by surprise, it was not tender… but all in good fun.
From these formative years spent on tiny Shetlands, I have kept the best memories, which is why, when I got contacted by an area pony club to provide images for its website, I was very happy at the prospect.
It was a pony club with sheep, goats, and chickens too
Caring for a horse teaches kids responsibilities… and problem solving
Photoshop allows you to take the person holding the horse out of the photograph
In my time, kids wore stylish black helmets but nowadays they dress up like shadow stormtroopers
Ponies get stuck in weird places sometimes
Kids generally enjoy a little ride but the little boy was terrorized
That little girl was stylin’. I even asked her where she got her boots.
She was the perfect model too, smiling as she jumped the fences!
After all the riding, the girls threw a wild tea party
In my pony club, we never wore white gloves. We were much too busy ducking the whip to indulge in such civilities.
I danced my first tango in public at the end of a pony club summer camp. I was 8 and leading the poor boy across the arena, dipping him deeply at each end. This earned me 100 points and a ribbon. At the time, I had a HUGE crush on my dance partner, Eric Bockstal, but nothing ever materialized from it. I think I may have somewhat emasculated him.
nathalie with an h's Confessional 