A girl and her horse

This afternoon, Emma had her first equestrian lesson. Over the past couple of months, we visited several stables and found one we really liked about 20 minutes from home. I really liked the instructor, Sarah, and all the horses looked really healthy and well-taken care of.

Although I was really nervous about Emma's first lesson today, she was chomping at the bit (HAHA!) I thought maybe Emma wouldn't get to ride today because she needed to learn a lot about tack and how to care for a horse before actually riding.

Here is Emma's sweet horse, Abra. He's 24 years old, so he's been around for awhile and is very patient with new riders. So that's ideal.


Anyway, after brushing Abra and helping Sarah put on the saddle, girth and bridle, Emma got her helmet on and was ready to go!


She led Abra out of his stall and into the arena...


Sarah helped her on the horse and the lesson began. It was so amazing to me...Emma had absolutely no fear being on this huge animal. She was giddy and giggly with excitement...




After about 10 minutes of instruction on how to start, stop and turn the horse, Emma was going around the arena on her own, following commands from Sarah. Emma was a little tentative at first and there were a couple of times when she pulled the reins to stop while kicking the horse to go (Abra would just stand there patiently, as if to say "make up your mind, little girl.") But after awhile, she was leading the horse around the arena like she'd been riding forever. I was so proud!

So now I guess we'll be taking lessons for awhile. I just wonder what body part I will have to sell to pay for them!