Here's the barn he was thinking about. The number one reason he liked it: there's a community of little kids riding there so my sister could make some riding buddies. All right, OK. Well, that lesson pic didn't sell me (seriously, why even put up a picture of your lessons if it's just 10 kids sitting all slack in the center of the ring? It's just UGLY). Since the description on the lesson page didn't tell me much, I thought I'd look to the kinds of horses they have to give me a clue about their "horse philosophy." That told me all I needed to know because, naturally, they have a palomino stud standing at their barn.
Take a second to look at that horse.
He's UGLY!!! Oh my. That is one downhill should-be-gelding with back legs 1 mile long. And I thought Cheeto's back legs were on the long side! This guy's hind legs belong to a horse that's an entire hand taller than he is. The entire barn immediately drops to unworthy status in my mind. Their choice of stallion tells me their claim to being "horse experts" is that they own them. Probably have for a while. Not impressive. Incidentally, I know some disciplines favor a slightly downhill build, but there is no way they could favor this stallion's hill. I could go sledding on it.
So, now I need to convince my dad to take little sis to a different barn. Because I love my sister and don't want her to go to Frankenstein's Stable. In steps Google maps (oh, how I love you Google maps, you make things so much less tedious). Type in "[zip code] horse" and up pops all the horse-y related centers within a 50 mile radius of my dad's house. I find this barn.
OK, they paid a pro photographer, made sure to set up their arena all nice and pretty, AND put up a (somewhat blurry) picture of a properly attired girl sitting correctly on her pony. This barn looks to run itself much more efficiently than the first one already. But, just for comparison's sake, I look at their sale page (they don't have a stallion page).
Pretty horse that I wouldn't mind riding or even owning. Incidentally, he'd definitely make for one unhappy sledding experience:
Oh, and did I mention that the cost of lessons is the same? Hmmm, wonder where I'd rather spend my money.
Fortunately for my little sister, my dad has agreed with me.
