Horseback Riding

Erin has been obsessed with horses. She has been begging for us to buy her a horse. I told her to find out how much it costs to board a horse since we can't have a horse at our house. She came back with "it only costs between $250-$300 a month, and that includes food." Apparently she thinks we are rich or we don't need groceries this month! Anyway, I told her that as soon as she could afford to pay the monthly boarding cost, Mario and I would buy her a horse!

Mario and I decided that since we don't think she will ever be able to afford the boarding cost, maybe we could pay for her to go trail riding occasionally. I grew up with horses and took them for granted. My parents got rid of our horses after they got sued when a friend got hurt on one of them. Then they finally got horses again a few years ago. This time I got hurt when I was thrown off the horse for trying to make it go a different direction than it wanted to go. I hurt my knee and had to go to the ER. So needless to say, my last experience with a horse wasn't a pleasant one. But I agreed to go riding with Erin.

Erin was so excited, I don't think she slept the whole night before. Our ride was at 9 am. When we got there, the group before us was just returning. The lead horse was not gentle at all. In fact, when the rider went to get off, the horse acted up and the lady fell off. I didn't have a good feeling. What was I thinking bringing my 9 year old daughter to ride horses. I was nervous she would get hurt. Fortunately her horse "Tiny" was very gentle, but not very tiny. They call him Tiny because he is good for tiny riders. Again the lead horse wasn't that great and gave the wrangler a bit of a hard time. I was extremely nervous that it was going to start rearing up and kick Erin's horse which was right behind her. But fortunately Erin and I had no problems and we had a great ride. But I told Mario he can go on the next one.

The first picture is Erin on grandma's horse five years ago (the time when I hurt my knee). The rest are from Saturday's trail ride. Isn't she adorable? She is a natural too. She is not like me, a nervous wreck on top of that horse.