Recently I shared this picture of Mini Pony, Cupcake, “kicking up her heels” with a friend of mine. “Are you kidding me?” she laughed. “No, they really do that. That’s where the phrase “kicking up your heels” came from,” I said.

After almost 2 weeks of rain (in So. California) and being cooped up in the stable. Cupcake and her baby Sprinkles, were having a ball running, jumping, and chasing each other around the corral. And yes, every once in awhile they kick up their “heels” (the two back legs) while they run. Notice her thick winter coat.

Another interesting side effect of all the rain is the fresh, green grass it brought. The ponies would find a juicy patch of grass to stop and chew on, but they had the jitters and after a minute or two they had to run. In a few more minutes, the grass beckoned again. Like us, they had choices to make. It wasn’t easy.

Cupcake and Sprinkles are just two of the 12 pets that bring our family immense joy and keep our conversation flowing at dinner time about what they did all day. It’s not only kids who need pets, we all need pets to enrich our lives.