When I was a child, I had an Appaloosa mare named Patches. I loved to strap on the bareback saddle and take her for a ride through the fields. My cousins and my grandpa also had horses, so I was always riding horses at one place or another. My horse riding days have been over for awhile now and my kids haven’t been able to have the same experiences with horses that my husband and I had in the past. Our kids have ridden horses at carnivals or fairs where they are hooked onto a carousel and led around, but they have never ridden on a horse by themselves. My husband had been asking me to call the horse ranch down the road and check into horse riding lessons, but I hadn’t gotten around to it. Surprisingly, my youngest son was invited to a birthday party at the horse farm. There were so many kids there that were excited and also those that were too scared to ride the horses.
My son couldn’t wait and was more than willing to wear the riding hat and jump on! The horse ranch was great with the kids. They talked to them about safety tips for being around horses and what to do while on the horse’s back. The group was divided into two teams and had a relay race while riding the horses. Each horse and child were lead by someone from the horse ranch, but the kids were holding on themselves and were allowed to trot during the relay race. The farm also had wild cats and chickens and the kids were in heaven. After the horse back riding session was over, the birthday girl opened presents and handed out pieces of her “horse” birthday cake.
My son had a great time and came home bragging about how fast he went on that horse during the relay race. I made sure to get the contact information from the horse ranch and plan on taking both of our boys back for additional horse back riding lessons. I would like to get my sons their own riding hats. I am glad that the horse ranch makes the children wear the riding hats, but I’d rather have our own instead of using the “shared” ones at the horse ranch.
Do you have a place that offers horse back riding lessons near you? Had you ever thought about having a birthday party at a horse ranch? Did you ride horses as a child?
I rode a horse unsupervised up the road at a friends home. We rode them down the country roads. I fell off once. I don’t think my parents ever knew. I have not ridden one since but dream of doing so!
Was the horse running when you fell off? Did he wait for you to get back on? It is a good memory isn’t it?
This was when I was a child. 4th grade or younger.
The last few years are actually the only time in my life we haven’t had horses! i should dig out some old pictures and scan ’em for the blog….i was looking at a little arab mare a few weeks ago and trying to figure out how to do it again, but we need so much fence work first *sighs* maybe next year!
Fence work can get expensive, but I’d love to see your horse pics.