Yesterday, our horse friend Shari (I know we talk a lot about her, but if it weren’t for her, we may have given up on this horse thing by now) decided that Sunday would be the day that we rode our horses again. So after a trip to a local festival, we came back to our barn and saddled up our horses. It was great! We took them in turns up to the round pen, first Valentine and then Moonshine. Shari used the longe line and whip to get a feel for how they were going to behave (or not!), then hopped on and rode around the arena. She even took Valentine out and rode around our pasture. He was so good! Then I rode Valentine, first around the arena, then outside. He was good for me too! Then Bill rode him, in the arena and out. Guess what? He was good for Bill too! I’m beginning to think he’s not just decorative after all.

Then it was Moonshine’s turn. She was a little spooky, because there were kids running around and yelling, neighbor dogs barking, and – horrors! – cows in the field across the road! (In her defense, the cows are new. Our neighbor just fenced that field to give his cows more pasture.) So she did a lot of head-tossing, stopping and staring, and snorting. She eventually calmed down (when the cows were out of sight), and Shari and then Bill were able to ride her in the arena. Then, alas, it was too late to ride anymore, because it was pretty dark.

All in all, it was a very good and productive afternoon. We are much more confident now, and in fact intend to saddle them up again this evening after dinner, all by ourselves! We’ll let you know tomorrow how it went.