Pony

Just a year before the Civil War, on April 3, 1860, Pony Express riders began the first of their 1,950-mile gallops from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif., and on into American mythology. They promised to make the trip in less than 10 days and often did it in eight. Riders carrying Lincoln's First Inaugural Address sped through in seven days and 17 hours. These tough young horsemen dashed alone across some of the most dangerous, desolate and isolated terrain in America - the Great Plains, the High Sierras and the Nevada desert.

Last year was a banner year for many Howard County horsemen.County residents garnered top honors in many events and competitions, including hunter shows, jumper shows, dressage shows, Western shows, combined training events, steeplechases, flat races, carriage-driving events, jousting tournaments, competitive and endurance trail rides, reining competitions and cutting competitions.But now the time has come for local riders to look ahead to 1992 and to set goals for themselves and their horses.

"Hold Hard," a memoir by Alda Hopkins Clark, is the story of a young girl growing up on a 19th-century farm in Howard County. This excerpt is published with permission of her granddaughter, Martha Anne Clark Crist. I rode Mary Mule for quite a while. One day a horse dealer seeing me on a mule said he had a pony, which he would sell very cheaply and he would like to bring him for me to try. The problem confronting me was how to raise enough money to buy the pony. My brother, Sam Hopkins, who worked with Mother managing the farm, told me that if I caught a couple of little pigs that were running with their mother around the back yard, I could have them.

Jerry Mallon of Lisbon is one lucky pony.The painful question his owners faced last month was whether to agree to surgery, which could cost several thousand dollars, or put him to sleep and explain the bottom-line decision to the disabled children who have befriended thegray Connemara.John and Helen Tuel, owners of the Therapeutic and Recreational Riding Center in Lisbon, let their hearts guide them, and they have $20,000 in veterinarian bills to show for it -- more than triple the expense they'd expected.

The $200 Robosapien V2 robot is the must-have Christmas toy for 11-year-old Jenna Jarvis. Toy makers like such passion. And this year, they are selling more toys that cost upward of $100 after watching consumers spend big bucks for iPods and game consoles during past seasons. Even though the toys are pricey, parents like Pete Jarvis are willing to pay. "This will be her big present," said Jarvis, 36, of Pasadena. The $10 Barbies and Legos aren't going away. But toy makers are betting that a blend of high-tech wizardry with life-like horses, Jeeps and robots will get young shoppers to put such extravagant items on their Christmas lists.

Summer afternoons, when traffic backed up outside her house on a main street in McClean, Va., 9-year-old Laura Crump brought out a plate piled high with lemons along with neon-yellow, 16-ounce cups and started pouring lemonade. A dollar a glass -- an exorbitant price, but people paid it, no doubt because it came with a lemon wedge on the side and perhaps because they were tantalized by the fake ice cream cone Laura and her brother tossed back and forth, pretending to lick, in the sweltering heat.

There aren't many books more widely read by Maryland children than "Misty of Chincoteague," the story of two orphans, Paul and Maureen Beebe, who live with their grandparents in Chincoteague, Va., and dream of rearing a wild pony.The heart-warming tale, which has charmed readers for 50 years and has been translated into a dozen languages, was written by Marguerite Henry, who died at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., last month at the age of 95.Henry wrote 59 books, including "King of the Wind," "Justin Morgan Had a Horse," "Brighty of the Grand Canyon," and "Born to Trot."

April 3 1860 The legendary Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif.

An article in today's Travel section contains an incorrect date for the annual Chincoteague pony swim. The event will be July 26.The Sun regrets the error.

Events are being canceled and a candlelight ceremony is scheduled in their place tonight in Lexington, Ky., in memory of three people -- including a Monkton teen -- killed Sunday when a van carrying teen-agers and adults to a pony competition spun off an interstate highway and flipped several times.Frances Pitts, 15, a former Roland Park Country School student, was pronounced dead at the scene. The others who died were Australians Alan Hession, 46, and Paul Colson, 16, Kentucky State Police said.