After a nice long Christmas break, we’re happily back to our familiar (home) school day routines, with some new experiences for all of the kids getting thrown into the mix. There will be more on the other kids coming up soon, but this happens to be another post about {A}.
{A} has always loved horses, about as much as I did when I was her age. I have always wanted a horse. As a kid, I had horse posters all over my side of the room walls. I can’t remember if that was before or after the Shaun Cassidy posters. (My sister, preferred Parker Stevenson, so I think she didn’t mind the horse posters as much.) Back then, I was getting a great horse magazine subscription called “Horse, of Course”, or something like that. In it, there was a lot of great horse photos, articles, and stories, and a pull out poster in each! So {A} and I definitely share a love for horses. But she has already had the opportunity to be with horses more than I ever did at her age. We have a friend who owns a horse rescue farm, where we go from time to time, and {A} hopes to work there some, as soon as she’s a little older and strong enough.
So for Christmas, on Christmas morning, we gave {A} a gift certificate for horse riding lessons, with an experienced trainer, Pamela Ring, at Dreamer Stables. When {A} opened that envelope and read the certificate she pulled out, she let out a big “WHOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!“, even startling some in the room, who weren’t paying attention at the moment. She about knocked us over with her hugs, too!
A couple of days ago was her first lesson. The wonderful thing is, she’ll be learning a lot more about horses, than just how to ride them. She’s learning all about them; how to interact with them, how to care for them, and how to dress and undress them, which she’ll be needing to do herself before and after riding riding. She has read so many books on horses, and knows quite about them, and their gear. But nothing beats hands on experience and spending time with these magnificent and beautiful creatures. She was beaming at her first lesson.
Now before moving on here, I just have to say, first…. that these are some of the absolute worst photos I have ever taken. Ugh. But..I was very limited in what I could do to get better shots. Despite how the photos look now, the stable was actually very, very dark, with horrible hanging lighting. I lightened them some, but a little flash would have been ideal in this case, with very little natural light source (and none in the arena.) But, flash is not allowed, as to not possibly startle the horses, or something. So….that’s the end of my excuses about the lousy photos. Here we go…..
{A}, brushing twice, with 2 different brushes.
Using an ice pick tool, to remove ice and any rocks (or what-not ; ) from their shoes.
Learning how to dress the horse properly, layer by layer, for riding.
Getting comfortable riding, and learning all of the commands.
One happy rider.
Unbuckling buckles to remove the horse’s bridle off of his head.
She can’t wait to go back next week. Horses are in her heart, much like chipmunks and training them are, along with good handful of other things that mean a lot to her.
One of the many, many reasons we decided to home school our kids, is to give them an abundance of free time. Time to imagine and create. Time to listen to, and follow their own hearts, and explore what calls them. Time to have lots of experiences out in the real world, hands on, and be educated through them. Time to discover some of their passions, and follow them if they choose to. Time to be with themselves, enough to focus on themselves, be who they are, and develop into all they want to be. Time to hear the whispers of God in their heart. Time is such a gift, for anyone! But more time to just be a child, whose heart and mind may not yet be inundated with wordly stuff, pressures and distractions, is a gift all it’s own. It’s these kinds of experiences out in the world, at a young age, that will certainly be remembered, and influence the rest of their lives.
Speaking of time, it’s time for my nightly routine before bedtime. Thanks for dropping by once again. We hope you all find that 2009 is going pretty well for you so far!