Back in the Saddle

Learning to sit properly

I don't know where it came from, but there are two young girls that have a great love of horses.

Granddaughters Tori and Brianna have been fascinated with horses ever since they were wee little.

Just put a book in front of them having colorful pictures of horses, and they will swoon.

Just drive by a farm with horses grazing out in the fields, and two little hearts will palpitate.

Just buy them "real" cowgirl boots for Christmas, and they will nearly gallop into orbit.

And just take them to a horseback riding lesson or two (or more), and they will think they have just trotted into Heaven.

Learning to walk

So we did.  In lieu of buying them silly, soon-to-be-forgotten toys for their recent 8th birthday, we and other relatives gifted them with a summer of riding lessons.  No, there's nothing really there to wrap up in pretty paper with a fancy bow, but if you ask them how they feel about this "gift," they will most likely tell you they've HIT THE JACKPOT.

Two summers ago they had one trial lesson.  At that lesson they had an absolute ball.  If you missed that blog post, you can read about it here.  Looking back at that post, I was stunned by how much the girls have grown since then, and now they are even missing teeth, too!

Learning to hold the leashes properly

So yesterday, they went back.  They will have lessons throughout this summer, approximately every other week.

Yesterday was a review day.  Learning how to lead a horse, saddle it up, walk the horse, sit properly, whoa, turn, stand up and sit down on the horse, and brush it before returning it to its corral.

Can you tell by looking at those faces that some very big dreams are coming true?

Ahhhh, yes.  Life is mighty good for those two little girls.