Horseback riding with my Elder Daughter.
On Saturday, H and I went riding. I managed to dust off the old saddle, and tack up Ezra for the first time in probably half a year. H rode Junior bareback as is her normal preference.
We took the horses on the road. It was so fun to be taking a ride with my kid - one of those I'd always imagined it kind of experiences.
We made a small loop that takes us past one of the houses we looked at during our house hunt four years ago. Then we took a longer loop around the hay fields near our house. Ezra was an unpredictable spaz, which gave me a solid reminder of why I'm the only one in the family who should be riding him when he is feeling well fed. H fell off one time, when she went down a slope at the edge of the road that ended up having a one foot drop that was obscured by the weeds. Junior held stock still when she came off - he looked a little freaked out, actually, with his legs spread out, like he was frozen in place. It is not very far to fall off of Junior, and H basically landed on her feet, so once we got her back up again, we continued our ride with no problem.
H tends to keep Junior at a walk (a pace he is very happy with) with the occasional short trot. She hasn't tried to get him into a canter since the last time we went on a road ride (it was her first canter and she lost her balance and fell off), since she's still not confident enough about her balance.
We'll probably try another road ride next Saturday.
We took the horses on the road. It was so fun to be taking a ride with my kid - one of those I'd always imagined it kind of experiences.
We made a small loop that takes us past one of the houses we looked at during our house hunt four years ago. Then we took a longer loop around the hay fields near our house. Ezra was an unpredictable spaz, which gave me a solid reminder of why I'm the only one in the family who should be riding him when he is feeling well fed. H fell off one time, when she went down a slope at the edge of the road that ended up having a one foot drop that was obscured by the weeds. Junior held stock still when she came off - he looked a little freaked out, actually, with his legs spread out, like he was frozen in place. It is not very far to fall off of Junior, and H basically landed on her feet, so once we got her back up again, we continued our ride with no problem.
H tends to keep Junior at a walk (a pace he is very happy with) with the occasional short trot. She hasn't tried to get him into a canter since the last time we went on a road ride (it was her first canter and she lost her balance and fell off), since she's still not confident enough about her balance.
We'll probably try another road ride next Saturday.