Kate like horses. I wouldn't say love but definately Like, Likes horse. She loves to play with her my little pnies and she names the horse in the field we pass everyday. So I thought it might be fun to go and ride a horse for her birthday.
We skipped the whole party thing and planned to go to Arrowhead Ranch right after school. We did a one-on -one with the horse. Buddy was supposed to be our horse but he was off wandering around so we had Scout. Later Buddy showed up and snuck in the gate to eat all of the treats we had for Scout. Amazing that an animal that big can *sneak*!

Kate loved it! She definately had her moments off shy-ness. One minutes she is so excited she cannot contain her self and the next she is crouching behind me, peering through my legs.

Shyness gets annoying when you are trying to gauge her reaction to something...it is so drastic and you never know when it will hit her. The part that really bothers me is that she thinks that it is safe to hide behind me. I am obviously wide enough in her mind that she has plenty of time to get away before the attacker gets around me. Or maybe it's because she figures I am so mean and scary that no one would dare to get past me and chase her. Kind of like owning her own troll.

Kate was acting shy when we started to comb and groom the horse. She did not want anything to do with touching or brushing it. I thought, Oh great. If she won't touch it she is going to scream when I suggest we ride it!
I was completely wrong. A few minute late Kate was asking, Can I ride now? She jumped right up and went around and around and around. Content as could be on her "HIGH HORSE".

She also had no problem feeding the horse the green cubes of alfalfa. She let the giant horse lick her and slober on her. I thought maybe we should try the grooming again. Nope, she would not brush the horse.

In the end we went home with a huge horse shaped balloon, pink stuffed horse, and a pink cowboy hat. Kate did care for any of those things. Instead she talked the whole way home about ABE the donkey who rolled around in the dirt and brayed at the car. She told me that she loved to chase chickens and she would like to have one someday. One that did not lay eggs of course.
There is nothing predictable about my child - and I love it!
