In moving back to Washington, one of the things that I thought we would miss out on is the "country" aspect that was prevalent surrounding us in Mtn Home, Idaho. We knew several people with horses and had tentative plans/offers to do some riding with them in the Spring/Summer of 2011. I thought we had missed our chance as I was never really exposed to horses at all while growing up in Western Washington. But there are a lot of horses on Whidbey Island. I have a co-worker who does eventing with horses and so she told us about a local event that was going on. We attended this and the kids really enjoyed watching the horses, though Sarah was mostly interested in just being close to any horses that were waiting or done and feeding them or talking to their riders than watching the actual event. It was a lot of fun, however, for the kids.
Soon after, we discovered someone in our ward (church congregation) who trains horses. Miraculously (to us at least) was that he was not only willing to teach Sarah and Nathan, but that he doesn't charge us for it and finds that him teaching them is somehow a benefit to him (he is trying to come up with curriculum on how to teach kids how to train horses... so we are kind of his guinea pigs). We try to do things to help him (clearing rocks out of the fields, clearing trails of debris/sticks, etc) but we have been doing this a couple of times a week for the past 5 months or so. His is a slow process and I think that sometimes Sarah and Nathan (especially the latter) get bored of it sometimes, but they are learning the basics about care and safety around horses and will probably be doing a lot more riding in the near future as Sarah is seeming much more independently comfortable around the horses (especially the pony, whom she works with the most).
Nathan is mostly just observing, playing with sticks or finding grass to feed one of the surrounding horses. He gets a token ride here and there but isn't doing a lot of hands-on stuff as much as Sarah is. But I can tell that he is much more comfortable just being around them and when there is more interest from him and more available time from either me or Larry, I'm sure he will move more quickly than Sarah has. Larry says that Sarah is her "star student" and seems to have a natural comfort around the horses and is responsive to his instruction. I enjoy accompanying the kids each time and I am becoming more comfortable and learning a lot myself about being around horses.
As many other kids out there, Sarah absolutely loves horses! She has numerous books about them and loves reading about them or drawing them. One of the things that Larry has taught us is that horses are very nervous and scared animals and that they are easily spooked. He is teaching us that we need to become good friends with the horses that we work with (through consistent action, strength, and a reassuring verbal tone) so that they can trust us. We then, can become their courage and their hero - these are words and phrases that he uses often with Sarah, in teaching her about these horses. Sarah seems to take pride in her efforts to become a horses hero by being its friend and being consistent, strong, but also respectful. So, much of their time has been spent being around the horses so that they can gain and reflect that confidence so the horse can deservedly trust them. She is doing well and it is fun to watch her grow and learn about herself and the horses that, before now, she only dreamed and read about.
Sarah thoroughly enjoyed going to watch her cousin, Ruby, perform in a recent event in which she did very well. Sarah hopes to be able to do the things that her cousin is able to do in the near future. Jane is very envious of her sister and brother each time we go, but the one time we took her she was very hesitant, scared and tentative to be close or to even touch them. She has a real interest in horses as well, so I imagine down the road, she may be joining us.
