Saturday ride - fun times!
TXBelle1174
Posts: 615 Member
Well, Saturday morning was lovely. It was uncharacteristically cool for an August morning in the great state of Texas. My 7 y/o daughter (J) and I saddled up our horses and set out for a nice ride to the edge of the lake and back. It's about a 2 hour ride, maybe a little less. I am still learning the trails out there so I try to go out when my friend Christina is taking out a trail ride. That way I dont get lost. There are MILES of trails that intertwine with each other and heavily wooded so very easy to get lost or turned around. Anyway, J and I were in the lead with Christina's group behind us. Although, C had a helper and she admitted (about half way out) that she had never done the two hour trail before by herself. :ohwell:
We get to the place we call "The watering hole" - its a nice little area of shoreline by the lake with shallow water where the horses can easily get a drink, we can dismount to stretch our legs, and there is a big rock to help with remounting. My horse loves the water so he waded in about knee deep to take a drink and splash around a bit. J's horse, Snazzy, likes the water too. A LOT! Anyway, I told her that she needed to keep him on the shore with only his front feet in the water. He was stretching out his neck to get a drink and I told her to hold onto the horn, stretch out her hand with the reins, and let him drop his head so that he could get a drink. Bad idea! He realized that she didnt have leverage on him so he took about 4 steps into the water, all the while I am telling her to pull back on him but he still had his head down with his nose in the water so she was not strong enough to pick him up. He finds a nice spot and melts into the water, all the way up to the bottoms of her stirrups, which are only about midline on his barrel because he is a big horse and she is a little kid. So she is hollering at me, her horse is in the water, and I bail off my horse so that I can get him on his feet. So I get them out of the water. She is crying and I am SOAKED to about mid thigh. She calmed down quickly and was all right, she just got her cage rattled a little bit. She hopped off, stretched her legs and got right back on. I asked her if she wanted me to "pony" her but she said no, that she was ok and could do it herself. What a big girl!
We go on with the ride, which was very nice, except that our "guide" got us lost. So our almost 2 hour ride turned into a just over three hour ride. Way too long for a 7 year old that is not used to riding yet. We had a good time over all and the weather was outstanding. Thank goodness or the latter part of the ride would have been miserable. I thought maybe she would be a little gun shy and not want to ride for a little while but on Sunday morning she asked me if we could go riding again. :bigsmile:
My daughter and I struggle sometimes to get along. I love her dearly but she can be a challenge and she knows how to test me in every way possible. She is essentially, just like me. The fact that she has taken an interest in riding and really enjoys it, makes me happy. It's the one thing she will listen to me about, ask questions, and takes what I tell her to heart. Most of the time she thinks I am just her grouchy old mom. When we are horseback its different. I think it almost makes me cool. Almost.
We get to the place we call "The watering hole" - its a nice little area of shoreline by the lake with shallow water where the horses can easily get a drink, we can dismount to stretch our legs, and there is a big rock to help with remounting. My horse loves the water so he waded in about knee deep to take a drink and splash around a bit. J's horse, Snazzy, likes the water too. A LOT! Anyway, I told her that she needed to keep him on the shore with only his front feet in the water. He was stretching out his neck to get a drink and I told her to hold onto the horn, stretch out her hand with the reins, and let him drop his head so that he could get a drink. Bad idea! He realized that she didnt have leverage on him so he took about 4 steps into the water, all the while I am telling her to pull back on him but he still had his head down with his nose in the water so she was not strong enough to pick him up. He finds a nice spot and melts into the water, all the way up to the bottoms of her stirrups, which are only about midline on his barrel because he is a big horse and she is a little kid. So she is hollering at me, her horse is in the water, and I bail off my horse so that I can get him on his feet. So I get them out of the water. She is crying and I am SOAKED to about mid thigh. She calmed down quickly and was all right, she just got her cage rattled a little bit. She hopped off, stretched her legs and got right back on. I asked her if she wanted me to "pony" her but she said no, that she was ok and could do it herself. What a big girl!
We go on with the ride, which was very nice, except that our "guide" got us lost. So our almost 2 hour ride turned into a just over three hour ride. Way too long for a 7 year old that is not used to riding yet. We had a good time over all and the weather was outstanding. Thank goodness or the latter part of the ride would have been miserable. I thought maybe she would be a little gun shy and not want to ride for a little while but on Sunday morning she asked me if we could go riding again. :bigsmile:
My daughter and I struggle sometimes to get along. I love her dearly but she can be a challenge and she knows how to test me in every way possible. She is essentially, just like me. The fact that she has taken an interest in riding and really enjoys it, makes me happy. It's the one thing she will listen to me about, ask questions, and takes what I tell her to heart. Most of the time she thinks I am just her grouchy old mom. When we are horseback its different. I think it almost makes me cool. Almost.
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