A Fine Day for Our Girl

Hello friends and family,

This Sunday was a sweet day for us and our "little" girl. This girl . . . 

Five years ago we took a trip to visit my family in Alaska. While there we went to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Fair. At the fair we paid five bucks for a horse ride for Emily. They put a pink cowboy hat on her and lifted her on the horse. The girl was in happy trance the whole time. 

When Emily turned nine, I found a local stable that was offering a Groupon coupon for one riding lesson. That was her birthday present and she was on Cloud Nine. She took to like a fish to water. (she doesn't get this from her mom; I am scared to death of riding horses.) 

     This spring we had discussions about what activities the kids would like to try over the summer. Emily couldn't think of anything else besides horses that she was interested in. I didn't see that this would be doable for us.
       One day Emily and I were out picking up trash for a service project when we drove past this farm we were always curious about. That day we saw a girl in the ring with an instructor.  We decided to brave, drive up and just ask straight out about lessons. Sure enough, they said they do lessons and we brought some info home with us. We called and found out the details. We figured we could do a couple lessons over the summer but Em was good with anything. She just wanted to be near horses,  even if for just a little bit.
      Sunday afternoon Emily had her first lesson. What a fine day! They gave us a tour of the property. Emily helped groom Jewel, the horse she'll be learning on and the rest you can see here in the pictures. Later we had a generous sponsor offer to "underwrite" Emily's lessons for the summer. So it looks like Miss Em will get to learn more about horses than she expected. Happy days for our budding equestrian!!