Passing it on

I'm passing on my horse knowledge and you know what? It's kind of fun. We have lived where we do for 21 years and our neighbors moved in two years later. They had two girls, Leah and Courtney, who were 7 and 4 years older than me. We have always been close, Leah and I more so though. They had horses before we did and when I was 4 Leah took me to ride on Courtney's horse Coke. Something spooked her in the field, we fell off and I landed right on top of her. That was our first "bonding moment" if you will. I used to love to go to their jumping lessons and always wanted to be there to play with the horses.

A few years later when I was 8 I got my first horse. We didn't have any of our fences up yet so she stayed across the dirt road for a few months. Of course, I was always there and Leah, Court and I would be out with our horses. I learned a lot from both of them.

Now, years have passed and they both have kids and have grown out of horses. I, as you can see, have not and don't intend to. Leah lived in her mom's house with her husband and kids for two years while their's was being built and her mom was living part time back east for work. During that time her kids became like my and Andrew's niece and nephew. We adore them. They were always interested in the horses and Koleden said he wanted to ride but by them time we went out to see them he'd changed his mind.

He just turned 6 last month and man, all he wanted was cowboy stuff. Leah and Dave moved into their new house a few months ago so I don't get to see the kids as often but all he wants to do now is come over and ride the horse. She brought them over Sunday and he rode all by himself. He had to wait a little while for me to get out of the shower and ready and he still wanted to ride which was amazing. He did great for his first time alone. I am so proud of him. And his sister, Addison, will be learning soon as well. For now she has to live with Leah or I leading her around. I told her when she is 3 we'll teach her to ride by herself. Luckily, that is in November so by the time the weather is good enough to be consistant she'll be closer to 3.5.

The roles really have changed, that is for sure. From Leah teaching me to me teaching her kids. Granny as the kids call her, Leah's mom, is going to get the kids a POA next spring so for hte meantime Boston is my kids horse. Luckily for me he has a lot of patience. Courtney's daughter will be next, but she just turned two so we have a little time there. Her other grandma and grandpa have horses too, so she's in love with them also. Just thought I'd share. I'm really excited about Kole being excited about something. And Andrew is happy that he will still play baseball with him so all our bases are covered! We both love those kids, they are a big part of our lives.