Horse Riding in our Neighborhood

We are coming to the close of our horse riding lessons, and have really enjoyed the privilege of this experience during the past two months. Sarah needed horse riding time as a therapy to strengthen her core muscles, and we were blessed with an opportunity to swap riding lessons for art lessons. I was pleased as punch that I could join the classes as well- I was obsessed with horses as a young girl, but never owned any. It was a rare treat to ride horses on my aunt's farm in Idaho, so I jumped at the chance to  join Sarah's lessons. 

My kind neighbor has been a fabulous teacher and has really helped Sarah gain confidence. Check out how excited she is for our lesson:

This week was the first time we were riding without supervision, so we decided to explore the riding trails in our rural neighborhood. Our community park has several trails mowed through the undergrowth, making a fun place to explore. For most of our riding time, I rode without a camera....but near the end I snagged it from the horse trailer so we could get a couple shots during the last few minutes. 

This has been SUCH a delightful time for us. Sarah rides an older, more sedate horse while I ride a young barrel racer who competes regularly with it's owner. It does make it a bit exhilarating to have a peppy horse full of energy, although I do still get scared sometimes when she gallops, so we usually stick to a brisk trot and only occasionally gallop. Sarah sticks to walking and trotting, and she seems to enjoy the fun of trotting.

It's such a treat to ride and we are hoping to find more ways of letting Sarah have more horse-riding time to continue her muscle therapy. Luckily we live in an equestrian neighborhood, so we will be exploring options of riding horses for neighbors who don't have time to regularly exercise their horses. We'll see what happens...