Jillian and Cisco

On Thanksgiving Day while we were skyping with my brother Tyler, I discovered that my niece Jillian was interested in learning how to ride. My dad and I were immediately excited but we didn't make too big a deal about it since we wanted to surprise Jillian with this for Christmas. We researched how much it would cost for her to take riding lessons at a local stable and were floored that for beginners most places were charging up to $50/hour. CRAZY!!!! So we decided that since we have a underused pony just sitting in my parent's field and I have years of riding experience that I would just teach her myself and my parents would buy her a pair of riding boots instead to get her started. She was excited to open the gift Christmas Day even though it was only an envelope with a photo of the boots inside since we wanted to make sure we ordered the right size. This afternoon I took Jillian out for her first little lesson and to get to know Cisco. We had a lot of fun together and she was a great student!

At first I led her around a bit and talked her about the basics of equitation and then I let her try riding on her own. Cisco isn't too used to having a bit in his mouth (due to a past tongue injury) so he played around with it a lot, but he did a good job with keeping her safe. We mostly just walked around the pasture since Jillian was riding bareback and worked on turning, stopping and starting.

Hyrum wanted to ride as well, so he hopped on Jena and then they both had fun riding around the pasture together. This was the first time that I've let Hyrum ride 100% on his own and he actually did a great job. Jena is such a sweet little pony, she really took care of him. He even got her trotting around which he thought was great fun. I can't wait to take Hyrum and Jillian out on the trails together and see how the ponies do. That will be super fun even if I don't have a horse of my own to ride. Hopefully we can make this a weekly or biweekly activity for the kids since the ponies really need the exercise and we are all having fun learning together. Happy Trails Ahead!!

We Sure Love Our Ponies!

Today we went over to visit the ponies. The boys had a great time riding Jena. She sure is a special little pony and we love her so much. I'm always so pleased with how tolerant she is of the boys despite their exuberance and our inconsistency in riding and spending time with her.

I can't believe how much the boys are growing up and it really puts things into perspective when they stand next to Jena who has reached her maximum height years ago. Hyrum loves Jena so much and is sad that he is outgrowing her. He did a great job handling her as he led Jonah around. She is actually better behaved when the boys work with her than when I do. I think it's because they are more her size and she doesn't feel as intimidated.

Hyrum will have to start riding Cisco soon. I feel bad that we haven't spent much time with him in the past year besides brushing him. He could use the exercise since according to the vet he's an 8/9 for body condition. Maybe we should start calling him Mr. Chubs! To me he doesn't look that fat, just out of shape. Last month I tried to put my dressage saddle on him in hopes that I might be able to take him on a little trail ride, but he freaked out and wanted nothing to do with it. He likes being ridden bareback, but I'm not sure I'm up for that quite yet. So I'll have to think more about what to try next. Here's hoping I'll be able to ride him at least once before the summer is over.

Too bad I couldn't get him to prick his ears forward in this photo. At least the rest of him looks good!

Pony Rides with the Smith's

This afternoon Hyrum has his preschool friends Ashlyn and Kayla come over for pony rides on Jena. The kids had a great time and it was really fun to teach the girls how to ride the pony. Maybe I should go into teaching riding lessons to children? I just love it when I see kids get excited about horses. They are something that I've always loved myself and I love sharing that with other people. Wouldn't it be great to earn money doing something you love rather than spend tons pursuing it like I am now? Hmmm, something to think about.

(Side note: I did ride Tuesday and Thursday this week, but since it's now a week later and I'm finally getting around to posting this, I have completely forgotten how the rides went. But since nothing memorable stands out, I guess I am safe to say that we worked on the same old same old. Ok....now I'm remembering why it was uneventful....I got stood up on Thursday for my riding lesson. That was irritating! I spent the night over at my parent's house since Ulla said she'd be free at 10am for a lesson and so I wanted to give myself enough time to get over there beforehand to warm up. At 10:15am when she still hadn't shown up, I called her cell and she said she totally flaked out and didn't even realize it was Thursday! Geez! Sometimes I feel like she doesn't take me seriously since this isn't the first time that she hasn't shown up for a lesson. She's just way too over scheduled and I guess I'm not one of her top priority students. Lame!)