Horseback Riding at the Farm

We did something very special on the ‘Woods’ last weekend in town. We went horseback riding around the farm!

A nearby farm neighbor, Robbie, runs a trail riding operation, and Kenny’s dad lets them use his land sometimes. As such, Robbie wanted to do something in return. So we assembled a group and drove up there to go for a ride with him, his wife, and their granddaughter on Friday morning.

 

Riley was not at all excited about this outing. He said over and over again that he didn’t want to ride on a horse, but Kenny and I hoped he would change his mind once he saw his older cousins saddled and ready to go. In the end, he got up on his horse with no issues whatsoever and was a champ the whole time.

Riley’s horse was tethered to Robbie‘s by a lead rope, so he didn’t have to control or steer him at all. He just had to hold on. And he got to wear a cool helmet. He looked so darn cute.

We decided that Rory was too little and that we were too inexperienced to ride him with us, but Robbie’s wife Deb offered to hold him on her horse. He freaked out almost instantly since he didn’t know her, so instead he rode on the four wheeler with Kenny and then with Grandma, who switched halfway through.

We rode for about an hour and a half. It absolutely poured on us twice and we all got soaked. But the constant clouds kept it much cooler than we thought it would be, which was fantastic. And the sky looked really neat.

When we got back to the front gate, we all lined up to take a group picture. Then since we only had to cross the street, Grandma handed Rory to Kenny so he could take his first {short} ride on a horse.

After we all dismounted and shook feeling back into our legs, we thanked our three hosts profusely for a great morning. What a great thing to be able to do on land we are all so familiar with.

Then my two boys found a puddle from the earlier rains and got absolutely filthy running through it.

Ah, well. Boys will be boys.

Final post about the ‘Woods’ visit coming up next!