Giddy Up!

You may recall that for Lila's birthday we got her horseback riding lessons.  We live less than a mile away from Hilltop Ranch and they do riding lessons starting at four years of age.  Lila has always loved horses and enjoyed pony rides when given the chance, so we thought this would be something fun for her to do.  Today marked her very first lesson and she was super excited for this day to come!  We pulled into the ranch and met Cindy, the owner, she got us started on our paperwork and got Lila engaged right away, encouraging her to come with her to get everything ready for the lesson. 

 

Meet Bud...

Hi, Bud!

 

Bud was Lila's horse today!  They started her out very slow.  She got to help brush him all down, pet him, and just familiarize herself with him.  She picked out the saddle, picked out her helmet and then it was time to climb on!

 



 

 

 

Carrie, Cindy's daughter, is actually the one who gives the lessons.  Lila warmed up to her very quickly, but wasn't all that sure what to think once she was high up there in that saddle.  She was a bit nervous and we had a few tears, but was quickly calmed when Dad said he would walk around the ring a few times.

 



 

Are you sure about this?!

 

 

Daddy walking alongside his little (cow)girl!

I am not sure Mike even got around the ring more than once and she was cool as a cucumber.  It was pretty awesome to see her get so confident so quickly!  Both Mike and I commented that she looked so big up there on the horse, she was relaxed, smiling, and chatting up Carrie!

Thanks for your help Dad, but I can take it from here!

They spent time in the barn talking about how to get a horse to go and how to get a horse to stop, so Lila would say, "Woah!" and Carrie would help her get Bud to stop.  It was very cute.  They did quite a few laps and then she had Bud go over a little bridge and they decided that it would be fun to ride outside and enjoy some of the beautiful weather we are having.

 

Off they go!



Meeting some of the other horses!

More horses to meet

Enjoying herself!

Happy girl!

 

We were both unbelievably proud of Lila today.  She can be a bit fearful in new situations, but she quickly put her fears aside and embraced the opportunity and had a fantastic time!  She was relaxed and confident and is so excited to go back next week to spend some more time with Bud!  Who knows if this will be a forever thing, but I can't say I would complain if we needed to live somewhere with a little bit of land to accommodate a horse!