Can't speak to marrying the rich girl, but the 'I want a pony' can be dealt within some situations. Start by finding them a local ranch they can work on and le

Can't speak to marrying the rich girl, but the 'I want a pony' can be dealt within some situations. Start by finding them a local ranch they can work on and learn horse care lessons from. Work with them on how they will pay for it and what they will have to sacrifice to make the lesson fees (being realistic in the extent they are expected to pay for it compared to something like piano lessons). Generally two or three weeks of cleaning horse poo from hooves will be enough to squash any pony dreams while teaching them a lesson on dipping their toe in the water and trying something out before jumping in. If they happen to really like it, you can increase their involvement proportional to how much they are willing to sacrifice to support it. This won't work for everyone, but it shows working towards a goal and maybe they get to the point where they are willing to sacrifice other enjoyments in life to be able to stable a pony at a local ranch. Regardless if they bail or stick with it, valuable life lessons are to be learned. I did this with my niece for a year and she discovered that she really loved horses even to the point of enjoying cleaning them, but also was too afraid of them (after seeing another girl get injured by a spooked horse).