Paige has been X-ing off the days!
For the past three weeks Paige has been x-ing off the days until her first horseback riding class. This is her "big birthday present" from her 10th birthday back in May. She waited until fall so she would not have to miss any classes while we were on vacation. I think it was a good thing, since the weather just cooled down this week.
Paige will be riding Calliope a beautiful Paint Quarter Horse. She has lovely blue eyes and she seems to be quite gentle. There is another girl, Lindsay taking lessons at the same time as Paige. There are only 2 riders per session. Lindsay is 9 and in the 4th grade, she has been taking lessons for a while. It will be nice for Paige to have someone her age to ride with and learn from too. They were already talking about the horse books they have read.
After grooming her horse they walked them around the interior of the barn so the horses relax and let the air out of their stomachs before they go out and cinch up the saddles. It was a lovely day to ride outside, sunny with a cool crisp breeze.
Paige rode around the large outdoor pen while her teacher, Miss. Ginette walked along in front of her giving her instruction. Pretty soon Paige was riding by herself and even directing her horse around the obsticles (jumps and cones) in the center of the ring. You can't tell from the pictures because she has her concentrating face on but she was all smiles as we were walking back to the car. As a matter of fact she was still smiling when I tucked her in for the night. I bet she's going to have horsey dreams tonight.