Giddy Up!

Today marks the girls' last day of five consecutive days of horseback riding lessons.  And I might also point out that today also marks the fifth day that all four of my young children woke up at 6:45 AM to get out the door by 7:30 AM to make it down to the ranch in time for an 8:00 AM lesson start time.  I'm not sure which one I am actually more proud of at this point: the fact that my oldest daughters can now independently ride a horse, or that we made it to the lessons on time....every single day!    So, you get the point, right? Today was a pretty big milestone, for a variety of reasons.  

Back to the horses.

Now my girls come from a long line of horsewomen.  My mom is a true lover of horses, riding from a young age and continuing to ride as an adult.  She passed on her love to me.  As a very young girl I remember my long legs dangling on the sides of our Shetland pony, Precious.  I learned to ride bareback, and so I had to learn balance pretty quick!  

We moved on up from Precious to Poco (the name fits, super slow and easy going), then Tequila (the horse that will forever be known for passing gas all the way down the stretch after rounding the last barrel), next was Cincinnati (a beautiful bay horse that was skiddish, but really exciting to ride), then Ginger (our family's favorite all-time horse, a gentle, sweet mare), and finally Sissy (an appaloosa that was quick on her feet and ready for anything).  

These past few years I had hoped the girls would start expressing an interest in learning to ride.  They've always enjoyed going down to the local horse arena, and walking along petting the boarded horses, asking about each one's name.  They've been on pony rides at the fair, and even a short trail ride this last summer in Julian, but they've never learned any skill or technique.  Not until this week, that is.

Only five days ago, Emma and Cubby were sitting atop their horses, nervous and wobbly, each with an adult at the reins, holding tight as they circled and circled the small arena.  Their trainer, Mrs. B., coached them in the basics of horse care, from the five reasons for brushing your horse prior to riding to care of tack, and proper saddling technique.  She provided them with tips into horse psychology, calling the girls the horse's mommies, indicating that the girls were "in charge" of the horse and had to show the horse that she was in charge.  

Over the past few days, the girls improved their skill and expanded their learning. They now ride independently, and have gained much more control over their animals.  I am so proud of them!

Now, while the girls were taking their lessons, the twins were also getting a solid lesson in ranch life.  They explored every nook and cranny of that property, and did quite a bit of work along the way, believe it or not!

What follows are pictures from our final day of lessons at the ranch.

First, the girls learned why and how to brush down their horse prior to riding.  This is Cubby with her lesson horse, the 19 year-old Appaloosa Arab mix, Dawn.

Emma is busy brushing down her 23 year old Quarter horse, J5.  

Poor Dawn has light colored eyes, so she wears a fly mask all the time to avoid irritation.  On the second day of lessons, Dawn's eyes felt so itchy that she rubbed her face hard against Cubby.  Cubby wasn't ready for that! She got bumped into that wood pole right there and is now pretty shy about going in between Dawn's head and the pole!

Mrs. B taught the girls to take care of their tack.  Here is Emma hauling out her saddle.

Here's the horsie line-up!  We had a beautiful view of Mt. Signal.

And then Cubby grabbed her saddle....

...and reins. 

Time to mount up!  Mrs. B is all about fostering independence.  The girls learned to mount the horse by themselves (with the help of the step due to their stature) on the very first day of lessons.

You go, cowgirl!!!

Yee-haw!!  Love that smile!

They practice by playing follow the leader, Simon Says, and other games. The girls barely knew they were taking a lesson, they just had fun.  

It's hard to tell in this photo, but Cubby is learning how to get the horse to trot.  She bumped along at a trot for only a few steps, but loved it....she's got the horse bug!!

On this last day of lessons, Danny came along to watch the girls while I watched the twins, for the most part.  

Gigi and J.D. loved this old tractor.  They were pretending to drive it, and were moving levers around, when the owner came up and asked....

...."Would you like to go for a ride?"  Oh yes!!  J.D., who doesn't like loud noises, was quick to say an emphatic, NO!

Then we moved on from tractor driving to an attempt to free the baby goats.  Thankfully, Gigi was unsuccessful.

And of course, for J.D., there was plenty of work to on the ranch.  By the way, I apologize for the hot pink hat, buddy.  I couldn't find your hat anywhere and I figured a pink hat is better than a red neck.

On top of the above poop raking that had to be done, there was plenty of hoeing to do as well.

Sometimes one tool is simply not enough.

That rake got a lot of action, let me tell you!  That ranch would be wise to hire this boy full-time.

And the morning's lesson ended on a happy note.  The girls were dusty and tired but pleased with  their accomplishments throughout the week.  Some tears were shed by Cubby when she said goodbye to Dawn.  We'll be back for more lessons in the fall, we promised. And we'll some apples for our new horsie friends.  And then it was time to mosey on into the dust-laden mini-van for the long trek back to our homestead.  We hope to see y'all real soon, now!