Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Horses

This is Bob with my two oldest daughters. Bob and his wife Brenda own 6 Arabian horses and for the last several weeks have been teaching the girls all about horses one night a week.

The girls are really enjoying their time. David has been taking them, but last night, he had other obligations (he had to draft his fantasy football team), so I went with the girls.

Wow, what great riders they are becoming. Bob and Brenda are very knowledgeable and are doing an excellent job of teaching the girls what it means to own a horse. Normally they have the girls help saddle the horse, and then off down the trail we walk. Bob and Brenda will use lead ropes and then after awhile, take them off and let the girls learn to be the master. But Bob and Brenda are there just in case and are constantly teaching and telling them what to do and what not to do.

Last night the mosquitoes were exceptionally bad, so the horses did not want to be walking on the trail. So after just a short walk, we turned around and went back home. Once there, the girls took the horses into the round pen and practiced. Bob was the "Show announcer" and they had to have their horses perform his commands. They did a great job of having them "walk," "turn," "stop," "trot," and "back-up."

I thought how graceful they looked. Not just the horses, but my daughters. They both have good balance and are learning how to be assertive to the horse but also to listen to it as well. After they were done, they helped take off the saddles and walk them back to the pen. Then we went in to Bob and Brenda's home where we enjoyed cake and a concert! Their daughter plays the harp, and her boyfriend, the violin. They were practicing for an upcoming wedding and graciously gave us a brief concert. What a nice treat!

Here are a few other pictures from past week's horse riding lessons. Enjoy! I know my girls are!

Isn't the view on the trail beautiful? They ride at sunset, simply lovely.


This is one daughter brushing DeeDee.


This is the other daughter brushing Starfire.

1 comment:

Jenny Chavez said...

That is AWESOME! What fun to go horse back riding. It brings back so many memories for myself! I'm glad they are getting to experience it.