Ray and Paddy

How would a boy, Ray, living with his farm family during the Great Depression, be able to have a pony of his own? The middle child of three meant working much of the day to help his parents with the farm work. These days were very difficult in comparison to what the child of today experiences. The twists and turns of how the pony arrived on the farm and subsequent challenges of caring and training the pony is an interesting read. Ray named the pony, Paddy. He was a true Shetland, spirited and headstrong. As the year of his arrival wore on, setbacks loomed every now and then which Ray and our father had to deal with. Fortunately, through hard work and complete cooperation from the family, Paddy was Ray's very own pony at the end of the year. As the author, I was the youngest of the three and experienced all the ups and downs of Paddy's first year with us. Years have gone by, and many of our cousins and children from the city remember Paddy well. Three more children were added to our family nine years later and they rode Paddy too. Thankfully the Great Depression had ended.