The
name of a children's game, for older kids. There are two teams, usually of
five or six boys each. The first team in the Pony, the second is Johnny.
The Pony team lines up this way: One member stands upright with his back
braced against a tree [or wall, etc.]; then the second player bends down,
thrusts his head into the first person's stomach, and grabs him tightly
around the waist. The next bends down, placing his head between the legs of
player 2 and grabbing him tightly around the thighs. Players 4, 5, and 6
repeat what number 3 did. The whole team then braces. The Johnny team . . .
races at them, one at a time, and vaults atop the row of backs as far
forward as he can, shouting "Johnny on a pony, one, two, three!" The object
is to cave in the backs of the Pony team. If the jumping team can do that,
the other must brace themselves again for the onslaught. If they hold and
support all the members of the other team, then that team becomes the Pony
and the jumpers have to bend over." - Fred Ferretti, The Great American Book
of Sidewalk Games (l975).