Horseback Riding

After debating on adding yet another activity to Evie's busy schedule, and looking for the right place, we've finally decided to start horseback riding lessons.  She attended a horseback riding camp over the summer and loved it, and I've been reading about the benefits of horseback riding for mental health.  There's a philosophy that horseback riding is therapeutic for kids who are feeling like they don't have control over their lives (which is how Evie's been feeling since COVID), because well-trained horses are easy for them to work with, but there's a sense of "if I can control a 1,200 lb animal, I can control a lot of things and make people listen to me too).  So Evie started lessons this past Saturday.  She got to work with Gus, a super soft white horse (I'm sure there are names for horse colors and I'm also sure I don't know them).  He was such a sweetheart.  Her teacher did an amazing job of teaching her how to collect him from the field, pick his hooves, put on all the harness/bridle/saddle stuff, and lead him to the arena.  They started working on posting (I'm learning so much new vocabulary!), and Evie was all smiles the whole time.

I was so amazed at her bravery, going into the field to get the horse!