Riding

The girls are back in the saddle after a very long winter break.  They are loving their horse days with Megan (their instructor), Big Bartles, and Dorito.  I remembered to bring my camera to their lesson the other day.  BB just wants to jump and canter, and asks every single lesson to do so.  BP takes it very seriously, while Baby C hangs on the gate and takes it all in. 

BB Rides too...

For once she does not have to sit back + watch her big sister have all the fun. BB is having a blast riding Nutmeg this Summer as well. She keeps asking to canter + jump at every lesson. Are you at all surprised?

Riding English

BP has been waiting over a year for this...Riding English was a very big deal to her. She has been posting in the Western saddle for a while now + her instructors finally took all her not so subtle hints So on Sunday with the teeniest English saddle I have ever seen she mounted Nutmeg, pink sparkly star crop in hand, and had her first English lesson. She was beaming!

Horse Camp

Horse Camp

9-12

Monday - Thursday

As if she did not love the barn / horses enough

This sealed the deal...

And she learned so much!

Trail riding

Mane Braiding

Bare back riding

Posting

Saddle cleaning

Bridle cleaning

Nutmeg

Driving a mini horse

Parts of the saddle

Parts of the horse

Visit from a horse dentist

New friends

Old friends

Kittens + puppies

Bartles

This is the horse that BP has been riding lately. She really likes him! "Big Bartles" is what she calls him. He is over 16 hands and used to be a jumper, but injured his leg a few years ago. They brought him out of retirement to walk / trot with BP. They have bonded and he is like a big puppy. A really big puppy! He loves to have his neck scratched and follow BP around the barn. They are very cute together!

Poor BB!

While BP rides, BB plays in the dirt ouside the ring. Poor BB! She wants so badly to be 3... My heart breaks for her, especially when she chants "Me! Me!" from the sidelines.

Riding Lesson

The Barefoot Princess had her first real riding lesson yesterday. She rode a big pony / small horse named Buzz. Buzz and I had a talk and he promised to keep her safe. I think he was half a sleep during most of the lesson, which was fine by me. BP immediately connected with Sara, her instructor, and was very talkative and confident. I stood back and watched a new BP yesterday during her hour with Sara. It was very clear that this is her thing. She followed directions...heels down, toes up, shoulders back, steer left, steer right, "whoa" to stop, and then (gasp) she and Buzz trotted. She was giddy with excitement and of course wanted to ride again tomorrow! BB got to sit on Buzz before BP untacked and brushed him. We will see Buzz and Sara again later in the week so Daddy can watch too.

Someday???

I had a horse growing up and so did BP's Dad, actually he had a few. So it is one of our dreams to have a horse again someday. We have a good friend who knows this dream of ours and she called last week to tell us about a sweet Belgian mare who was in need of a good home. The name of the mare is Janet and her current owner described her as "good as gold." Our friend said she had room on her farm for us to board Janet if we decided we could not live without her. We went to see Janet and she was beautiful and very sweet. I loved her right away (maybe it had something to do with the matching bellies we both had), but we decided that she was a little too "green" for us. In horse terms, green means she was not well trained and probably a little older than we would like. We also know that right now is not the perfect time to make our dream come true, with baby #2 on the way. We really should wait a couple of years. The Barefoot Princess is already in awe of horses and we would like to encourage this fascination. Someone very wise once told me, "Every little girl should have a horse because it keeps them innocent longer." Someday The Barefoot Family will find their horse, until then our good friend is still scouting for the perfect fit!!!