We spent Saturday at the horse farm for a lesson and trail ride. All the girls were really excited about it, and there were dozens of other girls from different troops there also taking part in the Girl Scout day. We arrived early and got fitted for helmets and some borrowed boots with a heel (those of us with bigger feet didn't require it because our feet won't slip through the stirrups like those little feet can).
The girls all posed in front of this impressive beastie, tied up in the shade of the evergreens. Eight of these girls are from my troop, and the 9th girl is Miss O, who was invited to join the outing. I gave each of them a dark green bandanna to mark the occasion (and make identification easier, should they get separated or lost).
They had the girls line up according to height, and assigned the smaller girls to ponies. One of the girls, Miss M, was assigned the sassy Piper, who wants to be the lead pony. We had trouble with him later... Cammie requested to ride her new buddy, Cinnamon, and luckily, he was saddled up and ready to go! This pic was actually taken at the end of the ride.
I also requested my favorite guy, Kidd, who was also ready to go, although they needed to get a saddle with shorter stirrups on it. Yep, my legs are really that short. The other moms joked that I needed a kid saddle for my short legs, but the instructors insisted it's really an adult saddle with better adjustments. It wasn't the saddle I usually use, that's for sure.
They led us over to the outdoor arena where they walked us through the horse basics of steering, stopping, turning, and a little bit of trotting. When it was my turn to trot with Kidd, the pony behind me decided he was going to go, too, much to Miss M's surprise. I stopped quickly and so did Piper. We're hoping that she'll remember this as a happy surprise, not a scary surprise.
Here's Cammie getting fitted to the horse's saddle--stirrups shortened and everything cinched up tight.
She rides with a lot of confidence and is really enjoying it! After a short walk around the arena, she was asking if we could trot. "No, not yet...we have to practice turning, stopping and backing up first." Patience, grasshopper....
We went for a long trail ride through the woods. Kidd was being sassy and stopped every few feet to eat ferns. I didn't let him when I wanted to keep walking, so he continued to walk right on the edge of the path, and thus, right next to the trees, so he could grab a bite any time we slowed down.
At the end of the trail ride, we walked over to where they had our buddy, Blaze, tied up. There she did a basic horse care lesson on brushing, saddling, hoof and teeth care, etc. Then they spent some time doing some of the brushing, then fed him a lot of grass.It was a long and very fun day! We'll have to do that again soon.
K
Looks like fun!!
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