100

This is my 100th post! Woohoo. So exciting. Can't you feel my excitement through your screen?! No? Oh well.

If only I had 100 readers. Heck, or even 1! ( ;

We had a BUSY weekend. Busy doesn't even really begin to describe it. It was fun, though! I'll be back with details later. For now, I wanted to share about C's first official riding lesson!

Late yesterday afternoon, we were finally done with all our scheduled plans for the weekend. It was cooling off outside, C had refused a nap (we got home too late for that) and was needing something to distract her from her sleepiness, and I desperately wanted to ride my horse. So I asked if she wanted to go ride with me and she said yes! C enjoys riding, but you never know if she'll actually want to do it or not. Sometimes she's just not interested. I don't push it. I'd love for her to share my love of horses and riding, but I'm not going to force her to be involved. Luckily, she does seem to carry the horse-loving gene. ( :

Normally when we ride, I get up first and have DH hand C to me. And we ride bareback, since my saddle doesn't sit 2 comfortably. But DH stayed in the house yesterday, so I was on my own. I decided to see if C would sit up there on her own. And she did! She was super excited and proud of herself. Kept sayin "I'm a grown up!" (That's her new thing. Oh, boy, we're in for it, huh?)

At first I was terrified that she'd loose her balance and fall off. In the past we've had to hold on to her because she just didn't understand that she'd fall off if she leaned waaaay to the side. But I quickly realized that for whatever reason she has now figured out a little balance. I lead her to the arena and just walked around next to her in there. After a while, I even quit holding on to the reins, except when I needed Sunshine to turn. C thought it was so cool that she was riding all by herself. DH came outside after a while and judging from the huge smile on his face, he was pretty proud of his daughter, too.

I taught C how to stop Sunshine. She doesn't exactly understand how to do it yet, but she gets the concept. Luckily, Sunshine listens to small children when they say "woah!!" even if they don't pull on the reins. C held the reins the whole time, and tried to keep her feet in the stirrups. (I have got to get her some boots, though; she just had her flip flops on. Bad mama, I know!) I had her do some stretches, just like I have my lesson students do, and C thought that was super fun. Stretching and moving around a little (while the horse is standing still) is great for helping people (especially kids) get over any fear of the horse. C doesn't seem to have any fear though, haha. At first, she didn't think she could reach down and touch her toes, but once I showed her that she could, she was all for it. That's my girl! I wanted to do "around the world" (where the kid slowly turns all the way around in the saddle), but I was nervous to do it without help, just in case. We'll try that next time.

C didn't want to get off, but I wanted to work Sunshine a little so she agreed to get down (haha). DH came out there and the 2 of them hung out in the arena while I worked Sunshine. DH even set up poles for me. ( : It was a good ride. Sunshine was super lazy, but I'm still not holdin that against her since its still hot and she's not in shape. I did the same thing I did last Sunday, lost of ground poles and low cavalletti. Then I tried for the canter. I got a stride or 2 of a very ugly canter on the left lead, and barely a stride on the right. :( On the right, I felt her right hind leg slip out from under her, so I decided not to ask anymore. Clearly, she's not better. *sigh*

I called the vet this morning and he said to keep exercising her and give her another week. If she's not better by then he'll inject the ECP directly into her ligaments. So my goal this week is to ride her at least 2 times. That didn't happen last week, but I'm hopeful that this week will be better! We're already off to a better start with the week. I got over 7 hours of sleep last night, which hasn't happened lately. Tonight I'm takin C to Bible School at my mother's church. I'm kinda thinkin if tonight goes well, tomorrow I might just drop her off there and come home and ride Sunshine. We'll see. If not I'll just have to make myself get up at 5:30 and get outside!