Since we moved to Pueblo from Denver, now 6 years in the making, I always feel like we should take advantage of small town liv'n. Part of living in Southern Colorado means we are close to farms and agriculture and when you have these two, you usually have horses. Plus, we live less than a mile from the Colorado State Fair and since Sophie was born, we have frequented the fair, as well as the stables.
Now that my girl is 6 and she has been asking to ride horses for quite a while, I thought we could test out the waters with taking lessons. I called up a friend of mine who shows quarter horses and has children the same age, and she steered us towards Diana Quintaña for lessons. Luckly for us, Diana has worked with lots of 4H kiddos and is a wonderful teacher. Sophie was very brave and has enjoyed the two lessons she's taken immensely. The first one she rode with Diana on the horse and the second one, she went solo.
I even took a lesson after Sophie on Saturday. I had to laugh at Sophie standing in the middle of the arena with Diana, repeating what Diana had told her to me. "Pull with your left hand, nudge with your right." I grew up riding my grandparents' ponies. Little shetlons who were fun as all get out, but who threw you off and were stubborn as ever. Along with horses, I grew up riding around in pick-up trucks on their last leg and old cadalacs with wheat growing up through the seats with my grandpa. I remember (now fondly) getting dusty and dirty in western Nebraska, learning how to shut gates, get cars stuck in the mud and check on cattle.
As Diana said to Sophie, as she instructed her how to crawl through the fence, "We'll make a cowgirl out of you yet."
And really, I guess that is my hope for Sophie and these riding lessons. I hope that she'll grasp what it feels like to be out in the wind and the sunshine in the country, on top of a horse, feeling like the world is in front of her; like anything is possible. That being outside and getting dirty is fun. That's how I felt during my week stays with my grandparents, aunts and cousins in rural Nebraska and it's a life lesson I hope to teach Sophie living here, in Southern Colorado.
