Thursday, July 16, 2015

beginning to ride....

All of a sudden (sort of) Abi is beginning to have a true interest in the horses. She has always been comfortable with them, being around the farm so much... but I feel like this interest is completely her own doing. She likes to run up to the barn by herself now, "just to check on the horses"... or "they might like a peppermint"  and off she goes. But I have to say, that when she began to talk about "wanting to ride on Tonka".. I was a little surprised and of course, very thrilled. So, tonite we saddled up to let her have a try. 
Now, Tonka is big enough when you are standing beside him, but getting up on there... well.. that is a whole different thing. Abi climbed on easy enough, but once she was up there, she wasn't so sure. So, I just had Tonka stand quietly and give Abi a chance to catch her breath and think this threw.
I got her to do some stretching, just to loosen her back a bit and take deep breaths, and begin to get the "feel" of being on a horse. Each time she did it, I could see her feeling more and more confident....
and before too long, she said that Tonka could move and we began walking around the pen. I have to say, he was so good with her on his back, they know... they're smart and I think he was being as careful as he could with Abi. I was proud of him....
Each trip around went better and better, and I told Abi if she comes and rides often, i will get her some riding breeches and some little boots... I think I will need to look into those soon.....
The true test of a "good ride".... you don't want to get off when it's done.....
After Abi's ride we did a bit of round pen work. Tonka hasn't forgotten his stuff... it's been ages since I have worked him like this....
He picked his leads up well, and moved so nice on voice command.... I need to take more time and work with him..... sometimes I let life take over too much and I forget how much fun this sort of thing is....
and for a heavy horse, he is very light on his feet.....
I think we have a future horseman here... I hope so, I used to love to watch Kassy and Sadie when they rode, and another generation would be just wonderful...
The barn swallows have kicked the babies out of the nest... this is their second group of hatchlings....This little guy was swooping around the barn and then found a nice big landing spot... on top of one of the fans. 
I think he was pretty proud of himself to be making all those practice flights, and I know in just a day or so, he'll be off for good. But maybe he'll be back next year with a family of his own... I love having them around the barn... they are a huge part of the bug control!!! 

happy flying little one......