Horsie Time

Last week, some friends had us over to ride horses and eat dinner.  Charissa had really wanted to get on a horse so Lucky the horse was caught and saddled and I placed Charissa on his back.  But then, she didn't want to ride a horse.  She started to whine, fuss and reach for me.  So I pulled her down and she plopped onto the grass to pout.  Lucky ate grass, while my friend Erin and I tried to reason with Charissa about her getting onto the nice, sweet, gentle horsie's back.  Nothing was working.

So I did what any good mother would do.  I pulled out the full-force peer pressure.

"Charissa?  You know what?  Abigail has a horse.  She does!  And you know what else?  She RIDES on horses!  You really should ride a horse like Abigail."

It was as if a light bulb turned on in her mind. 

"Really?  I want to ride a horse, too!"

What excellent parenting skills I have!  Or maybe not.  But it worked, didn't it?

So, she climbed up on that horsie's back and a beautiful friendship was born.

"If Abigail does it, *I* can, too!"

Trotting!

"Yee-haw!  I'm so glad Abigail rides horses!"

Concentrating (with the reigns!)

So proud after her ride :-)

"Thank you, Lucky!"

Brandt joined in the fun, too.  His favorite thing was sticking his fingers up the horse's nostril.

And THEN!  Mama got to ride a horse!  Doug snapped this pic as we were leaving.  I have missed riding so much!  Since my wrangling years, I've only been on a horse a handful of times. Yay!!!

Thank you Erin and David!  We had so much fun!