Just horsin' around

Today I am grateful for the opportunity that Alyssa and Xander have grooming, riding and learning about horses. It was their last day of a 10 week course so they had a horse show. They got to bring ribbons and tie bows in their mane. I stayed and helped them with this in the stable. The horses seemed less than enthused about these bows.

It really gives you a sense of how huge and powerful horses are when you are so close to them. When they don't want to do something and pull back it was a bit scary to me, but the kids would just push them gently and show them who is boss. One of the other horses got into Xander's horses paddock and I went over to check on Xander and he is leaning against the horse with all of his body weight to keep him out.

Here is Alyssa bridling her horse. He is a tough one to bridle! I tried to hold his head and was quite intimidated when he kept bobbing it up and down and pushing me away. Alyssa says he is like a bobble head. Kim helped her get most of it on and Alyssa did the rest.

Alyssa went for the minimalist look with only one bow.

In the arena they paraded around and had a fun time. They can't wait until next week when they start the next series of 10 lessons!

I am grateful for their instructor, Kim, who teaches them how to ride and respect the horses.