A " Companion Pony?"

Let me just say up front that I know little about horses and even less about horse racing. Nonetheless I was near tears at the sight of American Pharoah stretching out his long legs in the final yards of the Belmont Stakes last Saturday. I have heard that great racehorses have “heart” and that’s what I felt I was looking at: a horse with heart. Huge heart. The kind of heart that sends you bulleting forward with everything you’ve got in order to fulfill what you were birthed and trained to do . . . and, then, possibly, even a little bit more.

American Pharoah wins the Belmont Stakes and captures the Triple Crown, the twelfth horse ever to do so in racing history. His jockey, Victor Espinoza, is grinning broadly and blowing kisses to the crowd. The spectators in the stands are cheering and waving their arms madly and the bands are playing. Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, and his family are hugging each other and wiping tears from their cheeks.

The camera cuts to American Pharoah with Espinoza still aboard, and who is that horse cozying up next to Pharoah? It’s not Smokey, Pharoah’s usual “companion pony.” It’s Pharoah’s “lead horse,” the one who led him to the gate and the one who is trained to lead Pharoah off the practice track if something goes amiss during training.

“Horses are not loners by nature, so it is common practice for thoroughbreds to keep a horse known as a ‘companion pony’ for friendship and support,” writes Jill Pellettieri for The Explainer. “Many companion ponies also double as lead ponies who also serve as a safety net—if something happens to the race horse on the track during practice, the pony, which the thoroughbred respects and trusts, can inch in close, offering reassurance while the racehorse is in a vulnerable state.”

Apparently Pharoah’s “lead horse” and “companion horse” are two different horses. He has a support team.

The race over, Pharoah’s head is turned into the neck of his “lead horse.” He appears to be sort of snuggling, but the truth is that a strap is connecting the two horses, and when pulled, it turns Pharoah’s head slightly into the neck of the other horse. Pharoah looks totally comfortable as he steadies down, pressed into the neck of his “lead horse.”

Still, I am disappointed that it isn’t Pharoah’s barn and training horse friend, Smokey--officially known as This Whiz Shines--- out there with Pharoah. They are essentially inseparable. Smokey is Pharoah’s “companion pony.”

When Pharaoh is taken to the racetrack for a workout Smokey, purchased by Baffert for his quiet and gentle nature, is alongside. When Pharoah travels in a van or on the Boeing 727, named Air Horse One, Smokey travels with him. As I read it, Smokey is Pharoah’s mainstay.

 I would have liked it if, at the end of the Belmont Stakes race, Smokey--the "companion pony"-- had been beside Pharoah immediately to settle him down. But he wasn’t. I don’t know if Donna Barton-Brothers of NBC was riding Smokey for the quick victory interview with Espinoza as she did after the Derby and the Preakness. I didn’t see her.

No matter. Smokey will be there at the racing barn when a sweaty, exhausted American Pharoah, draped in white flowers, comes off the track and heads for a bath.

Why am I going on about this?

 Because like American Pharoah, I think we all need a combination of “companion pony” and “lead horse” in our lives.

If we merge these two concepts in our minds, I think you 'll agree that after we’ve caught the bit in our teeth and extended our body/mind/ spirits to their absolute limit in some soul-driven endeavor, we, too, want someone-- non-competitive—upon whom we can rely to settle us down. Walk with us. Soothe us and bring us slowly and gently back into the day-to-day world. Someone who is willing to get into the fray and fetch us out if what we have set our hearts upon goes pear–shaped.

At the same time we need to be able to function as a “companion /lead pony” for others, or at least one other. We know what we need and want. Can we offer that relaxed comfort and assurance to another when he or she has, with heart pounding, risked digging out a new stream in his or her life’s river, thereby extending its usual boundaries?

Your “companion/lead pony” may be a spouse, or a best friend or you may, touched with a bit of yearning, simply hold such a person in your imagination. But I know that you know exactly what I mean.