Horse Sense

Tonight Abby had her first horseback riding lesson. Now she has been signed up for lessons for over a month, and finally she got to go! I had her at a barn two minutes from the house, but with the weather being the way that it has, and the fact that the lady had no covered arena, there have been no lessons. It's been so hard for her to wait, and really disappointing for all of us. So we called the gal that teaches our neighbors and are now signed up with her and her indoor arena fifteen minutes away.
The lesson tonight was all about horse safety, grooming and tacking, and basic common sense. I absolutely LOVE her instructor!! She really made everything so fun and was the kind of gal where there are no stupid questions. Of course Abby threw her for a complete curve when she asked how to tell the difference between boy horses and girl horses. I loved the blush and the look towards me to make sure it was okay to proceed with the conversation. It was really a funny moment!
This is the most focused that I have ever seen Abby. She hung on every word and was truly in awe of the horse named Sally. I like that she has to learn how to care for the horse herself, she actually has to work to get to the fun part. Finally it was time to ride. But since the horse sense lesson took so long, she only got to be on Sally for about 5 minutes. In fact she was on and off before I could get a picture! But like Miss Sayer said, next time she'll know everything and get to ride most of the time.
I learned a few things tonight as well. When driving to a barn in the middle of nowhere, things look a lot different at night than during the day. Because of this your cell phone should have some battery power in case you take a wrong turn. I learned where my high beams were and that coyotes are not extinct. I learned that I really have lost my patience with my current camera and will be getting a new one sooner rather than later. And I learned to never, ever wear flip flops to a barn again!!