Equestrian Dreams

I have an Aunt. Her name is Wanda, she is my mother's sister. Wanda lives in Payson Utah with her family. They have horses- sweet, gentle, loving, beautiful horses. My mother has been going down to the boarding stables with Wanda several times a week this summer to work the horses, train them and then take them up in the Payson hills for long therapeutic summer rides. My mother is LOVING these horses and her time spent with them. So when she mentioned that the grandchildren should come and experience this quiet beautiful place we all jumped at the chance!

I wondered if the girls would be timid, but they took to these sweet creatures in seconds!

They started off in the small corral on "Pippin", a small Welsh pony. They learned how to hold the reins, direct the horses, get them to start by clicking their tongues and how to bring them to a stop.

Next they graduated to the bigger quarter horses "The Kid"- Honey colored, and "Burayous"(I have no idea if I spelled that correctly!)- Dark Brown.

After Abby could control Kid quite well we let her loose in the more open corral and she proved to be a natural in the saddle!
Olivia lamented that I wouldn't let her ride alone in the more open area on Kid (her very favorite!) but she was finally content to ride with me.
Eva found pure joy on the back of this very patient steed!
After all the riding we went back to Wanda's house where she had brand new baby goats for the children to pet and hold, not to mention the cats, chinchilla's, big daddy goat and a HUGE dog that my girls wouldn't go near!!

It was perfect day- it brought back many memories from when I was small riding on horseback in the Northern Mountains of California, on the Oregon border, while visiting my Grandma Harris during our summers. Those horses belonged to both my Aunt Wanda as well as my Aunt Marsha, but Wanda believes the saddle she put on Pippin today was the very one from my childhood! Now that little piece of the past made the experience all the more wonderful! We will most definitely have to do this again soon!!