Horse riding

Horse riding is Savannah's passion.  She looks forward all week to her one hour lesson and time prepping and cleaning her assigned horse Delhi.  She has asked me many times if she can go 2 times a week or have a longer lesson.  She can't get enough!  It was harder in the winter to always ride inside (where it was still cold), but as it's warmed up over the past few months, she's able to ride outside and feels a lot less restricted.

Her instructor is Katya, or Kate as she said we can call her.  She's Russian-Latvian.  Savannah likes her and appreciates the instruction she has given her.  I'll let Savannah speak for herself:

The only thing that brings me such intense joy, is horse riding. I especially love preparing the horses. When you first bring the horse from the paddock, you enter the horses stall. 

From there, you brush the loose fur off of the coat and pick the dirt out from inside of the hoofs. 

After that is finished, you need to head to the tack room. The tack room is the room where all of the saddles and bridles are held. 

Once the horse is saddled and bridled, you need to do a quick safety check to make sure that the saddle is tight enough and that the straps are secured.  

Then comes the relaxing part. Riding. The feel of cold rushes your cheeks, turning them rosy pink and the sound of wind whips through your hair and pounds in on your eardrums. You hear the thud of hooves against the dirt below you and the rush of surroundings. 

When I first started riding, I was on a rope and only walked and trotted slowly. This was a very boring first week of lessons. Then I started cantering on then rope. Then off of the rope. 

Soon my teacher didn’t have to tell me what I was doing wrong and sometimes didn't even need to be there. The only reason she was there, was to make sure that I was okay and to give me pointers here and there to improve my riding. 

After a few months, I started jumping. Just when I thought that life wouldn’t get any better, my teacher introduced jumping. 

I got a few not so friendly reminders on how to jump right and had a few sharp words but eventually, I knew how to jump on the low one - one and a half jumps. I was so happy. 

My horse, Delhi, was amazing and I knew that I might have caused her to roll her eyes when I wasn’t looking at how I jumped. But I didn’t care. This was the most fun that I have had in a long time. 

Once, when I was in the riding hall, a rider didn’t follow the rules on staying to the right when you are riding and I got thrown off of my horse's back. It didn’t hurt, but it knocked the breath out of me. 

Another time, I rode too close to my instructor's horse and her horse made a sudden move. Horses are easily spooked and this was no exception. Delhi moved right and then twisted back to where she was before. I wasn’t holding on tight enough and was hurled off of my horse's back. 

Again, it didn’t hurt me physically but it did hurt my pride.  I still love riding!

And Rhea likes to come along and pet the dogs (and then itch after since she's allergic to them, as well as horses.  Poor thing.  ;) ).