Back in the Saddle Again

Emma took a couple of months off from horseback riding this winter.  It was just too cold and snowy and she and Julia would give me a hard time about heading out to the farm.  Plus, I was more than exhausted from just keeping up with our hectic pace of life and needed a bit of time without running to and from all the extra-curricular activities.  So we decided to just take a breather and wait for better weather.

Now that the weather is warmer we've returned to the farm.  Emma didn't seem to lose a beat - sitting straight up for long periods with less time hunched over.  The girls were happy to see the "critters" again and noticed that a miniature horse was added to the mix of goats, sheep, turkey, and chickens.  The mini horse was very friendly with me but didn't want any of the other critters to get any attention so he ran them off when they came over to greet us.  He also didn't seem as happy to see Emma as she was to see him and we later found out he doesn't like little kids as much as grown ups.  I don't think his permanent home will be with the critters and when we showed up last week with carrots he wasn't in the field with them, making it easy for our beloved goats to munch on the goodies.  I know I've mentioned before that Emma has a fondness for the goats and it seems that absence has made her heart grow fonder with her legs kicking and squeals of delight she gave off when we stopped to see her goat buddies.

Here is a video showing how good she did - Miss Kris was able to hold her hands lower on Emma's stomach and Emma was able to use her arms better to "right" herself.  

Julia was happy to break in her new rain boots at the farm.  We bought them at our trip to the outlets on Mother's Day so she can bring them on our summer vacation.  Although the weather was picture perfect the last two weeks, it seems we are in for a soaking this week so we'll be able to tell in short time if they hold up to the muddy fields she'll likely be running around in this summer.  

We sure are happy for the nicer weather and that we are once again back at the farm!