Anastasia and Felicity...
I know I never write in this damn thing any more. I honestly have not had much to write. I have been striving toward a hermetic existance lately. As hermetic as one can be in a house with 4 other people. The baby is all into her riding lessons. I'm so ready to sell this house and move to a big piece of property so she can have one. But I don't think we can do that for at least another year. We HAVE to do the kitchen over before we sell and Bob says 2 years. But if you could see how much she loves being out there with the horses. At the end of every lesson she spends time with EVERY horse they have there and gives them each a carrot. So as you can imagine, there are about 25 horses that get all happy to see her coming. She rides a real old mare, Felicity that was a starved and almost dead from worms, the vet says she is about 25 years old but she still likes riding with the baby. She has a big droopy lower lip but she's really pretty other than that. And when I was taking a picture of the baby grooming her I said "Okay smile for the camera!" so the baby would look up, and the horse picked her head up and smiled at me, showing all her teeth. I have the picture as proof. But they took her as a rescue and this has got to be the most laid back animal I've ever seen. She is like a giant dog. The horse is so grateful that she is healthy and loved that she puts up with the baby being herself. But Lindy's first horse is going to have to be a pony, cause she can almost walk completely under this one and can't possible get up there without being lifted into the saddle. So a shorter pony with the same disposition would be the ideal thing here. Lindy has her own ideas of what she wants to do with the horse. Don't get me wrong she LOVES riding her. And she has the stearing and walking and trotting thing down. But she likes to get down and play with the horse a little during her lesson. So she gets off the horse, leads her around the ring a few times, spends time hugging and loving on Felicity then she takes the poor mare into the center of the ring and spins the horse. Almost like a dog chasing its tail. Fast, in a tight circle. I don't know how it started, and we told her not to, but the horse just follows her and does it. Then after a few minutes of spinning (which you KNOW the horse is LOVING)she stops and watchs the horse get her bearings. Felicity looks a little drunk for a minute. She probably spends about half her lesson actually riding and the rest of her lesson playing with the horse. We have found that after a really good spin, Felicity doesn't like to trot, she'll walk but the trotting is not gonna happen. So that has to be at the tail end of the lesson. Her lesson is supposed to be for an hour but by the time she is done it's closer to two. I like the fact that her teacher isn't just sticking her up there and showing her how to ride. She has her take the horse from her stall, brushes her and put the saddle on her (they have a teeny little western saddle for the baby, and between her and the saddle the horse is loaded up with about 50lbs of weight, it's a wonder she even knows she's up there...it is SO fucking cute)But Lindy does it all herself now. And at the end of the lesson she has to take the saddle off and brush her again and put her back in her stall. Lindy has to drag a little milk crate around the horse to do everything cause she is so short. And the only thing that she hasn't done yet is put the bridle on. My mother gave the BEST birthday gift with the horseback riding lessons. But that's only on wed. She wants to go everyday.