Carson's first riding lesson

Last month, a new riding stables opened just down the road from our house. Sherri McFaul and her husband Murray, bought the house last year and have spent almost all of that time fixing up the house and building a Mega-dome barn. Last month the barn was finally ready, so the horses moved in.

Last Wednesday, on the first day of summer holidays, the boys and I took a walk down the road to see the horses and enquire about riding lessons. Neither of my children have ever ridden a horse, or even petted one, so I wasn't surprised when Aidan announced that he wasn't sure if he wanted to take lessons. Aidan always has to survey the situation before he commits to anything new. Carson on the other hand, true to form, was all for the idea. Every day since then he has woken up and asked if today was the day to go horseback riding. So today we headed down the road for Carson's first lesson.

Sherri's horse, Kit, who is 26 years old and very gentle, was Carson's horse for the morning. For the first half hour he learned how to brush her and put on the saddle etc., then for the rest of the hour he got to ride - very slowly thank heavens!! It only took him a few minutes to get the idea and then they were off and - walking. Next week he gets to go a bit faster - and wouldn't you know it, halfway through the lesson Aidan wanted to know when he would get to try.