Sir Robin wouldn't be a Legacy pony if he didn't have a back-story. "He's one of the few horses we intentionally sought out," owner Lauri Kiger explains. "We had known for some time that we wanted to add a new stallion to our string. We wanted a German Riding Pony, and had been searching around without a whole lot of luck. One day, Haylie decided she wanted a pony to do the Pony Hunters with; so then, we were looking for TWO ponies: a stallion for our string, and a reliable hunter for Haylie. Nobody was looking for an Arabian stallion hunter pony, but when we found him, we realized we could have it all in one: a reliable and fun-loving pony-sized Arabian with the class to do the hunters and the sport horse qualities to cross into our Riding Pony lines. I was sold."
Of course, that didn't mean the decision was taken lightly. "I must admit," Lauri continues, "I was not enormously keen on the idea of almost impulse-buying a relatively young Arabian stallion, putting my twelve-year-old on him, and asking him to constrain his Arabian energy to be a polite hunter. When he came home, the first thing I did was take him out and try to rattle him. A younger stallion in a new place with a bunch of unfamiliar mares and other stallions? If he were going to rattle, I figured he would do it now. And I admit, I was shocked at how honest he was. He made it incredibly plain that he was very interested in the mares, wanted badly to meet the other stallions, and wasn't thrilled at me jumping him over the scariest obstacles I could muster; but for a young guy in a new place, he was very, very trusting and respectful. I knew then that he was the absolute perfect pony stallion and I wasn't going to regret taking him on."
Since then, Haylie has come to share her mother's sentiment. "I wasn't allowed to ride Robin for a week, until he had settled in and we made sure no sudden quirks were going to come popping out. But he's been here a few months now, and he's just as good as the day he arrived. I love riding him. Arabians have the absolute smoothest gaits in the world, and I had never jumped an Arab before--it's tons of fun. It feels weird a little, because they don't jump the same way warmbloods and Riding Ponies do. He's totally different from my other horses, Paradigm, Nostalgia and Katja. Katja has all the pony spunk and a bad attitude; Paradigm's got a lovely temperament but is extremely quiet--amazing for a smooth ride, but no exciting moments. Nostalgia's just psychotic. Robin's got pony spunk, loads of curiosity, and an honest nature. He's pretty much the best ever."
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