Pony Ride Business Is A Family Affair

Pony Ride Business Is A Family Affair 28-1-7 Robin and Kevin Pettitt and their family cover a lot of miles with their "pony ring" business, taking their self-contained traveling rig every year to amusement parks, birthday parties, family reunions and other various promotions. They've been in business for 13 years. Their ponies are in demand most during the summer, when children line up for rides at small town fairs and other events. "A lot of it is word of mouth," says Pettitt, regarding the family's ability to find work for the ponies. "People see us at different places and contact me for other jobs. Other times, I send out letters to fair boards, ag societies and companies. Sometimes, I phone to find a contact person and talk to them about the possibility of hiring us." Pettitt says the pony ring is truly a family business, with three daughters also helping. The family raises their own ponies. They currently have 53. "Our aim is to raise ponies with good temperments and good confirmation," Robin says. "We don't like them to be over 13 hands high or under 10.5 hands. They look more like small horses than ponies. One of our studs is a Welsh-Quarter Horse cross, and we also have a pinto Welsh cross and a registered Welsh stud." The three Pettitt daughters do a lot of the breaking and training, and the family sells ponies they don't need for the pony ring business. They spend a lot of time with each foal right from the day they're born. They get their feet trimmed, deworming, halterbreaking and general touching to desensitize them. To get them used to distractions, Pettitt puts flags on fences and milk bottles with sand in them in the corrals to kick around. "The girls ride them until we figure they're safe for customers. After they've worked in the pony ring for a year or two, they're really good riding ponies for kids," Robin says. "I keep a lot of brood mares and still have a 19-year-old mare that's been with me since day one." She says mares with foals are given the year off from working in the pony ring. The business charges $3 per child per ride. Five revolutions around the 30-ft. dia. ring takes about three minutes, which is about average length of other midway rides, according to Robin. Sometimes the family has to share a percentage of their sales with the organization hosting them, but Pettitts always charge mileage for coming. Length of jobs varies from four hours for a company picnic, to as long as 14 hours for some fairs where a day can start at 10 a.m. and end at midnight. For the past seven years at Klondike days, Pettitts have also set up a "picture on a pony booth." Using a digital camera and a printer, they sell 3 by 4-in. shots for $7.50 each and 8 by 10s for $20. The Pettitt's pony usually works in a 150-mile radius, but they have traveled as far as 445 miles. They make their own 8-ft. fence panels to fit on the sides of an eight-horse trailer and in the back of the pickup pulling it. The panels, which are easy to set up and dismantle, are used to encircle the 30-ft. ring and also to provide a small pen that connects to the side of the trailer for holding spare ponies. A canvas canopy ring top to shade the horses fits in a bag. The ponies are attached to the arms of a rebuilt carousel ride, which breaks down onto a trailer. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Carousel Amusements Ltd., Robin Pettitt, R.R.#1, Site 3, Box 22, Morinville, Alberta, Canada T8R 1P4 (ph 780 939-6857; email: rkpettitt@aol.com).

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