Disclaimer: I own the kids, not the adults.
I actually lay claim to this story, too, since...I actually experienced something like this! :P I changed the scene a little from what happened to me, but the story still ends the same.
I figured the best people to experience this was the Jackson family, since one of them is the step-brother to horses.
Bad Horsey
*~Feat. Lacy Jackson~*
Annabeth watched from the fence as Percy led Lacy into the stables. They weren't at the Camp Half-Blood stables. They were at some random stables near a racetrack. The track was having a special kid's day and had some Shetland Ponies out for the kids to ride.
Percy was ecstatic, wanting their five-year-old Lacy to come ride one. Annabeth was content to stay on the sidelines with their two-year-old. (A/N: Will not reveal. Must. Resist.)
Almost all of the ponies had been claimed and were being ridden now by various children. One, however, was still up for grabs. Percy, being impatient and not wanting his daughter to wait for a ride, immediately led her up to the pony.
This guy was old. He was brown and white, with grey around his nose. His yellowing mane fell into his eyes, which had a tinge of bitterness in them. The tag on his door told the demigod his name was Booger. Percy snorted and asked the old pony, "I really don't wanna call you Booger. Got any other name you'd prefer?"
The pony stayed silent.
"I'm a son of Poseidon," he whispered to the pony. "You can talk to me."
Yet again, the pony stayed silent. He turned his head to the side like he could care less.
"Fine then," Percy scowled. "Be that way…Booger."
He led the pony outside to the riding area with Lacy on top. Lacy was excited. She'd never ridden an Earth-bound pony before, much less one just her size, so she bounced happily on Booger's back.
Booger snorted in annoyance, but didn't express any feelings in words Percy could understand. Percy almost thought he'd lost his ability to talk to horses, but then heard the other ponies in the area conversing and joking around.
I guess Booger's not a talker, Percy thought. Whatever. I guess that's better than Arion's dirty mouth.
Percy led Booger around the pen. The other ponies were in a line ahead of them. Some of them were already leaving. Scratch that. All of the ponies were leaving. Pretty soon it was just Booger, Percy and Lacy left in the pen. The farmer that owned the ponies called for them to come in, as it was time to feed the ponies.
The second 'feed' was mentioned, Booger suddenly perked up. He nickered something Percy didn't catch and suddenly took off for the other end of the pen.
To clarify, this pen was made of wooden fencing. The 'gate' consisted of three long, horizontal, removable pieces of wood. The farmer had removed wood pieces one and two on the bottom, but had left the top one there, since the ponies could fit underneath easily.
That is, if they didn't have a rider on them.
Booger seemed to have forgotten he had a five-year-old girl on his back as he raced towards the farmer.
He dove under the wood piece, easily clearing the height restriction. Lacy, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The wood hit her square on the chin and she flew backwards off of Booger. The farmer grabbed and tugged at Booger's flying halter rope and 'whoa'ed him.
Percy raced over and helped Lacy up. He hoped there hadn't been any permanent damage. Okay, he secretly hoped that knock on the chin had made a few baby teeth fall out. That would've been cool.
Lacy stood up and brushed off the dirt from her no-longer-yellow dress. She looked pretty peeved at being thrown off a horse. Percy could relate. Any relative of Poseidon would feel annoyed at being thrown. It was basically an insult.
Annabeth came running forward, their second born in her arms. "Is Lacy alright? Is she hurt?"
Percy gave her a thumbs-up. "Lacy's fine."
The farmer came towards them when Percy had led Lacy out of the pen. He was still holding Booger, who looked annoyed at not being able to get fed right away.
"I'm so sorry, sir," the farmer apologized. "Booger ain't usually like that. He's usually well-behaved when it comes to kiddy-rides. Don't know what got into him."
"It's fine," Percy said. "He might just be having a bad day. We've all had them." He stroked Booger's mane. Booger didn't react any different than before. Percy turned to Lacy.
"Can you forgive Booger, Lacy?" he asked.
Lacy casually strolled up to Booger, looked him square in the eye and did something Percy never expected.
You know that place in between a horse's eyes? Right where a star or stripe is under the forehead, at the top of the nose?
Lacy punched Booger there.
Booger's eyes widened and he fell to his knees, snorting, "OUCH!"
Lacy flipped her hair haughtily and walked away to join Annabeth and her brother. "Bad Horsey!"
A/N: For future reference, I actually had a 27-year-old Shetland Pony named Booger when I was little. And he was a very mean little beast to kids, including me. One day when we were in our riding pen (built the same as above) he did exactly what the story Booger did...with ME riding him. In response, I stood up and punched him in that spot. Very hard. He wasn't mean to me ever again. :)
Regardless, Shetland Ponies are actually sweet ponies. They just get really cranky when they get near their thirties. Ha ha.
