For those of you who don’t already know, my family are ‘horse people.’ I had my first pony when I wasn’t much older than Ava, was competing in gymkhanas and rodeos when I was younger than Aidan, gave up my last pony when I outgrew him at 18, and my parents still have horses.
Aidan’s always been fascinated. Ava is a bit…um…fearful.
So imagine my surprise at our friend Joy’s the other day - her girls take dressage lessons so we hung out to watch - when Ava insisted on getting on Shorty (one of their ponies).
Hmmmm…..
First she insisted she must wear the helmet.
Then she stood by Shorty’s legs, arms in the air, going “Yay, Yay, Yay!” So up she went (in an ENGLISH saddle - I sure hope you’re not reading this, Nana…).
When we tried to put a hand on her to hold her steady, she smacked us away. Clearly she’s been watching the girls ride…and wanted to be like them (the riding, not the smacking).
She tried (repeatedly) to put her feet in the stirrups - but no go.
We didn’t actually WALK anywhere. You’re awfully sweet, Shorty - but if Ava’s first “official” ride isn’t on Bear (Nana’s sweet horse), I think Nana would be very sad. Not that she’d know, since I’m SURE she’s heeded the post title and isn’t reading this.
