The Mystery of the Vanishing Pony

The pony stood looking very sad and lonely, head down, in the field behind the broken down cottage. A flick of the tail was the only movement it made. Watching from a distance was eight year old Karla, who often stopped on her way home from school to see if she could see the pony. Karla was a shy little girl; she was the youngest of four children. Her sixteen year old twin brothers were very loud and rowdy and her sister, at thirteen, tended to treat her like a baby. Karla was lucky enough to have a pony, a Shetland called Dillon. But she knew that Dillon was lonely and needed to have another pony to keep him company. How did she know? You may well ask; she knew because Dillon had told her! Even before Karla could speak, her parents had noticed how animals reacted to her and had watched the exchange of looks between their daughter and whichever animal was near her at the time, and there were many animals, as Karla and her family lived on a sheep farm.