Pridey’s Piece

Dearest readers,

I am writing to you today with a sense of desperation. This has by far been the greatest slight I have ever sustained, and I reach out to you, my friends, to support me during this crisis.

I have been reliably informed that my mother’s prolonged (and might I add, pleasant) absence from the stables is not due to my retirement from the sport to pursue my editorial role, but rather because she, in her own editorial capacity, was creating not one but two issues of HQ Magazine for publication this last month.

Now what is the problem, you could be forgiven for asking? Well, dear friends, the ‘problem’ is that I, the supreme editor in chief, was only informed of one edition and thereby missed my opportunity, nay right, to have my say in the recent Olympic Edition.

To add insult to my grievous injury, upon informing my mother of her oversight, she appeared shocked and asked: “What could you possibly have to say about the Olympics?” As a pony full of quick retorts, I hastened to pose the question right back at her, at which she looked slightly red-faced, but this, I cannot lie, was only slight comfort to my bruised ego.

First and foremost, I wish to state that I could obviously have been an Olympic competitor were I not ridden by my mother, who is about as helpful as a chocolate teapot, and wouldn’t know how to perform in a dressage test if her very life depended on it. Furthermore, I simply don’t have time to attend these large shows with my other roles, and spending days ‘in transit’ just does not get my creative juices flowing. I made the trip from Cape Town to Jo’burg once, and I can assure you that there was nothing romantic or inspiring about that journey at all. Travel writers can have their title with pleasure – it is not one I covet. Finally, I wish it to be put on the record that I like to give other equines a chance to shine. I’m not a selfish pony. I don’t need to hog the limelight. I just need my small sliver of it, and if Dalera, Bella Rose II and Gio want to go and perform at the top, I’m thrilled for them. They speak highly of my writing, and it is from this, I derive my pride and selfworth. I don’t need a Gold Medal, just the love of my readers here at HQ and my fellow equines.

Anyway, I am trying to recover my sense of self and continue to produce prose worthy of you, my dedicated followers. I shall almost certainly be in better spirits next month!

With much love, dear readers, Pridey xxx