Her First Riding Lesson

As some of you know by now, today Chica had her first riding lesson. She was nervous and excited prior to the lesson. She loves horses and has always said she wants to learn to ride them. Thankfully, N&G bought her lessons for her birthday. I say thankfully because, as stated in my post from yesterday, horses freak me out and I am not sure if I would have purchased her lessons.. (although I know Zak would have) I did great she did great! She loved it. She was her quiet self but that is her normal.

Let me say this, she was impressive!! I am very proud of her. She got on that beautiful horse and did her thing. The lady that taught her was wonderful. She explained things very well and made the lesson interesting for a 5 year old (and a 27 year old) Playing things like green light red light for learning to make the beautiful horse go and stop.

We both are very excited for her next lesson.

Picture and video time!!

This is Grande.. isn't she beautiful

The lesson started off learning about horses, where to stand, where she can and can not see, brushing them, putting the saddle and such on, cleaning dirt from the hooves, brushing her tail, and anything else you can think of. Then it was time to go for a ride!

This is Chica mounting Grande for the first time!

After mounting Grande, she learned about making the horse stop and go. Then she learned all about how to steer the horse in the direction she wanted Grande to go. 

Look at her zig zagging by herself with Grande!! 

The lesson was an hour long. I would guess she spent 40 mins on the horse. The lady way great. She trusted chica and the horse together more than I did. By the middle of the lesson, Chica was leading Grande around the arena without the lady standing next to her. She followed them but wasn't as close as I would have thought. Chica did the majority of the leading, steering, stopping, and go-ing (is that even a word?) by herself. Like I said, I was super proud of her!! She even rode Grande forward, sideways, and backwards!! Picture above on the right is backwards!