Issuu

A Letter from Alice

Hello readers!

Amidst this sweltering summer heat comes another issue, hot off the press... here is your July edition of the Pony Tails Kids Club Digital Magazine! Whether you’re bringing your colouring pages and markers into the sun or staying inside to beat the heat, I hope you enjoy this month’s special issue.

Stay cool kids, And don’t forget to pat your pony!

Signed,

Alice the Pony

Horse/Pony Breed of the Month:

HOLSTEINER

Vincent <3

The Holsteiner is a longstanding German breed falling under the warmblood horse category. They are born athletes and excel in Olympic disciplines like dressage, eventing, and show jumping. To the left is a photo of Vincent - a Holsteiner that has become an awesome lesson horse after a successful career as a highlevel jumper. He lives on a farm in Kelowna, right here in our beautiful province of BC.

What breed do you want to see featured in our next issue? Reach out to Alice at ponytails.alice@hcbc.ca and let her know!

Interactive Story Feature:

Solve the Beachside

Mystery!

...

Are you ready to play detective?

Saturday morning began as any other would for Kira. Bleary eyed from sleep. she arrived at the barn at the crack of dawn to get in a ride at sunrise on the beach. She kept her pony Alice at a seaside stable on Vancouver Island, which was just a short walk down to the ocean. This had been their tradition for as long as she could remember: getting up early so that her and Alice could see the first bit of morning light. They would ride in the direction of the shore until the dirt gave way to sand, then eventually waves. Alice loved to paw at the water and splash around, which never failed to make Kira laugh. She was known for being a smart and cheeky pony, which was always entertaining. But on this particular day, Kira was met with a shock...

Alice’s stall door was wide open. Her halter and lead rope hung on their usual hook intact. But Alice was nowhere to be found!

Emily, the new stable hand, walked into the barn and found Kira in a panic. “What’s wrong?” she asked as Kira’s eyes darted around frantically. “Alice is missing!” she exclaimed, as tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. “What?!” Emily responded in surprise “I was here late yesterday doing night check, and she was still in her stall with the door latched when I left!” The girls looked at each other, then both darted outside. “ALICE!! ALICE!!” they began calling. Emily picked up a bucket of grain and began shaking it, hoping it would help lure Alice back to them. They began earching the farm from top to bottom, leaving no stone (or horseshoe) unturned.

Kira and Emily searched everywhere. There was no sign of Alice in the barn, by the pastures, near the arena, or even in the hay shed. They wandered out further, to the very back of the property that led down to the beach. “Look!” Kira shouted as they reached the sand. There started a trail of fresh Aliceshaped hoof prints leading down to the shore. They followed them as far as they could, until about a horse-length from the water, where they suddenly vanished. Both girls stood there contemplating, wondering what possibly could’ve happened to Alice.

Here are the clues we have so far:

Alice is kn0wn for being clever and cheeky

Alice’s stall gate was found wide open

Her lead rope and halter had not been moved Emily came to do night check, but at that point she was still in her stall The hoof prints they found on the sand stopped just before the water

What do you think happened?

Brainstorm your theories and then keep reading to discover the answer to the mystery!

“Hey, are you guys alright?” a stranger called out from further along down the beach. The young man was accompanied by a dog, who was running along the shore sniffing excitedly. “No” Kira admitted in defeat. “My pony Alice is missing.” The stranger smiled with sympathy. “Well, I doubt she went far.” he said reassuringly. “Sometimes my dog wanders far away, but I always find him somewhere chewing on seaweed.” Kira looked down at the dog’s mouth, which was chomping at a luscious, green piece of kelp. She tilted her head as she stared at him. “Does a lot of that stuff wash up on the shore?” Emily asked, slowly coming to the same realization as her. “Oh lots! Especially down that way” the stranger said, pointing in the distance. Kira and Emily gave each other a look, quickly thanked him, and then took off in that direction.

And sure enough, once they ran a little further and rounded the corner of a big rock face, they spotted her:

Alice the pony, munching on a piece of seaweed, completely unharmed and unbothered.

The tide must have washed away the rest of her hoofprints, explaining why they seemed to have “vanished”. “Ugh, Alice!!” Kira groaned in equal parts frustration and relief. “You scared me half to death! But I’m glad you’re okay. And I guess you did me a favour by meeting me down here for our sunrise ride.” Emily sighed and shook her head, chuckling to herself. “Oh man. I guess this is what you get for having a cheeky pony. She definitely learned how to open her own stall door.” Kira thought about it for a moment, looked at the mischievous glimmer in Alice’s eyes, and realized that Emily was right. This was just one of her pony’s newest tricks. “Oh Alice,” she teased affectionately, “we’re double latching your stall from now on. And we’re putting you on a kelp feed supplement while we’re at it.” Alice perked her ears up when she heard Kira say this, causing the two girls to burst into laughter.

Activity of the Month: How Many Words Can You Spell With P O N Y T A I L S?

P O N Y T A I L S

Eight letters, endless possibilities... many words can you come up with using only P, O, N, Y, T, A, I, L, and S? You can rearrange them in any order, but you can’t use them more than once. Use the sheet on the next page to write them all down!

HORSEY FACTS OF THE MONTH: THE EARS NEVER LIE - GAUGING A HORSE’S FEELINGS

Did you know that you could start to understand how a horse is feeling just by looking at their ears? Check out the three different ear positions below and what equine emotions they are depicting.

indicate that the horse is on alert, and focused on what is in front of them

EARS FORWARD EARS FLOPPED TO THE SIDE EARS PINNED BACK

indicate that the horse is in a calm, relaxed state

indicate that the horse is feeling irritated, aggressive or fearful

July 2025 Colouring Page:

Connect the Dots!

Look at this cute little foal, standing all on his own! But it looks like this illustration is incomplete. Connect the dots on the page to finish the picture, and then colour it in!

Ps... do you remember what a male foal is called?