We've had a busy couple of days. Wednesday was a beautiful tease of spring weather. Though my garden called to me, instead we hitched up the horse buggy to Jorgen. Lauren and William rode in the cart, while I walked at his head to insure good horsey behavior. Anna rode Stealth alongside. It was a perfect afternoon, daffodils blooming under a blue sky. These are the moments children will remember when they grow up.
Yesterday was a full day. Anna had a riding lesson in the morning. Afternoon found us at the local nursing home with our homeschool group. Lauren played Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat. William and Anna shared our Japanese Chins, Paris and Whitney with the residents.
By evening, we went to a fascinating demonstration. We saw a real life cowboy! With our local Parelli group, we went to watch
We watched as he worked her on the ground until he was able to get his body across her back bareback. At this point, the filly twirled him in a circle, and the crowd gasped. We all knew that had it been one of us on there, we'd have gone flying off at a tangent to that tight spin. But, he hung on, and soon had his leg over the back and was sitting. By the end of the evening, he had saddled and ridden the horse. He told us that at home, he'd have the horse on a trailride within three days!
My friend, Rona, and I laughed that we weren't going to see any "car wrecks" that night, since this man clearly wasn't going to be bucked off. Some of the competitions remind us of car races, where everone is waiting to see who crashes. Often, after a competiton, the discussion with my girls revolves around "who fell". But the cowboy didn't fall or even get bucked once.
One thing I could not help thinking about is that so many people spend so much time watching television every night. Yet, this was so much more interesting: seeing people we knew, getting together to learn about a common interest, working toward a goal. If only there were more opportunities for people like this.
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