summer rewind: for the love of a horse

i can't remember when caroline's love of horses began, but i can tell you that at any given moment, she can be found drawing horses, reading about horses, playing horses, talking about horses, building stables for horses with legos... you get my point. so when i heard about a somewhat local stable having an open house way back in the summer, i knew she would jump at the chance to go. we invited her sweet friend madelyn, and we headed out to the farm.


we were greeted by a long stable full of beautiful horses, and the girls wasted no time meeting the gentle friends.



a couple of fellow homeschoolers have horses that are boarded at this stable, so it was fun to say hi to their horses!

after getting acquainted with the horses, caroline and madelyn each grabbed a tack box and were ready to work!


first order of business was to brush the horses... there were several different brushes they used... hard, soft... that's about as technical as i remember. :)




next, they dug poop out of the horse's feet. there was an actual term for this process, but let's just call it what it is, shall we? i think madelyn opted out of this activity, which was completely understandable.


and finally, the moment the girls had been waiting for: time to ride the horse!


here is the stable owner, amy, preparing caroline to mount guinny, her horse.


and she literally handed over the reins to caroline!


as amy walked caroline and guinny around the ring, she taught caroline how to use the reins to guide guinny.



caroline was kind of having a good time.


love this one of caroline listening with the red barn in the background.


then amy unhooked the lead rope, and my little girl was riding this horse all by herself.


she also put on the brakes all by herself.


this one is my favorite. check out that look of concentration.


ok, i like this one, too. i never expected her to get to ride the horse all by herself. i think caroline was just as shocked!


on top of that giant horse, my little 6 year old looked so big, yet so small.



madelyn was also excited about riding a horse, but when it came time for her to saddle up, she was a bit hesitant. amy was so great with madelyn, gently encouraging her to give it a try.


madelyn stayed on the horse...


and before long, she and guinny were walking around the ring!


i was so happy to see this girl smiling on that horse!


and she just kept smiling. :)


the girls hated to say good-bye to the horses, but the offer of a cold treat made it a little easier to leave the stable.


wanna see more pictures of sweaty kids on horses? never fear... madelyn decided to have her birthday party at the stables in july, so we will head there soon enough. just hold your horses!