"Mommy, I want a pony!"

Erin has been hearing about our neighbor's horses for a year now and finally got to meet them in person a few weeks ago. It was her first experience with any horse and she was so fun to watch. I didn't realize how great I had it as a kid because my aunt and uncle always had horses and every time we went to visit we would get to ride them. I'm no equestrian but I'm comfortable on them for the most part - especially knowing that I have already lived through falling off one running at full speed as a teen. Because horses were a natural thing to me, I hadn't even considered that it might freak Erin out at first. She was in awe of their size and at one point looked up at me with these HUGE eyes and said "can I touch it?" When she did, in the side, the whole horse twitched like they sometimes do and she jumped back like she'd been shot. I took a picture but she was so freaked out it came out blurry....

After we collected both of the horses from their homes in the stable and took them to the arena, Erin got her first ride. She was on Jamaica with Ace because she couldn't fathom riding alone - it totally freaked her out. By the end of the trip, she was a pro and rode Cedar all by herself while I led them around the arena.

It got dark and windy and time to head home and Erin was so sad. As we bid farewell to the horses, she said to me in this forlorn little voice, "Mommy, I want a pony!" I'm sure I'm not the first mom to ever hear those words but man they were so sad and funny to hear from her. I just laughed and agreed, "I want one, too!" Unfortunately, we'll both have to wait a while since owning horses in the city isn't a very easy task. In the meantime, she is looking forward to Girl's Scout camp even more because we'll be at the camp with horses. Now that she's had a taste of what that means, she's hooked! Ace, thanks for the great spur of the moment outing!