Horseback Riding Lessons

Ok. So, our first lesson went well. The girls had to learn to brush Ed, pick his hooves and brush his teeth (haha- not really brush his teeth).

On the second lesson, the girls pretty much got right on to ride. All was well as Jenna rode. She had to make Ed turn one way and then the next. Getting him to even go was a chore. We had to get her to kiss at him and give him a little kick. She did really well, such a natural.

When we got to Ella, well..... what can I say but Ella turned into Superwoman. With one minute of getting on Ed and strapping on the spurs, Ella was running. I guess I should actually say Ed was running and Ella was on him. However, she did not last long. The fright on all of our faces would have been a picture to remember, but I really don't want to remember. Next thing we knew, as Ed was running, Ella was holding on, then she let go of the reigns, legs still wrapped around him, then she is laying down with legs still wrapped around, she is bouncing all over the place and then it happend. Ella flew into the air and was Superwoman. She landed face down- Thank the Lord--- as her helmet kept her safe. The bill of her helmet kept her little face from slamming down to the ground. Now, all of this is going on and we are standing in shock. As soon as she flew off, I took off running and behold I actually ran faster than Jason- it was a total miracle- which I would have wanted to see on tape, but oh well..... I picked her up and Ella had chosen a nice shade of arena brown dirt as her lipgloss. That was all there was, dirt on her lips. We thanked the Lord over and over again. Of course, at this time, Ella is scared to death, but not crying... typical of Ella. After Kirby (their teacher) teaches Ed he cannot do that, we put Ella back on. She was scared at first, but we wanted her to ride. About her third time around the arena, she was telling us good bye, so we knew she was going to be fine. You will see the pics of Ella riding with Kirby because we did not even get a chance to get pics of Ella riding by herself. So, anyway, we have not ridden again because of schedules and the weather. We should ride on Tuesday, but we will see. Anyway, here are the pics of my little cowgirls. :-)