It's Love!

Katie had her first Riding riding lesson today. She went last Tuesday, but spent her first lesson learning about horses from the ground. Today she helped groom the horse and learned proper leading technique, but she also got to Ride.

The horse's name is Thora. She seems very steady and patient.Katie is used to leading Bo around. Her instructor kept reminding her that she needs to pay attention to where the horse is, as having Thora step on her would be quite uncomfortable.Katie was very nervous when she first got on. She said she felt like she might fall off, and that she wasn't sure she liked riding. I think this was partly because the saddle kept going crooked, which would be bound to make a person feel off balance. After she kicked her foot out of the one stirrup she could reach and just worked on being centered she did much better.They walked around and around, and did a lot of tight circles. Katie practiced putting her arms out sideways, and also putting her hands on the cantle and leaning back. It wasn't too long before she was smiling and happy!She can't wait until next week's lesson (and wanted to be sure that she'll always be able to ride Thora), and already had me helping her study the list of Safety Rules the instructor gave her (homework!).

I'm a lousy baseball mom, and I can't play Barbies, but Horses are an activity that I can get excited about!