A Day in the Life of a Cowboy...

Just a quick update on us.  My kiddo has gone from group hippotherapy (therapeutic horseback riding), to individual lessons.  Essentially this means riding with two side walkers, one lead and an instructor in the center of the area to riding with only the instructor in the center of the area.  No lead rope to show the horse where to go.  No side walkers to make sure my 7 year old baby boy doesn't fall off.  Just him, the horse and the instructor.  You can imagine my anxiety.  The first session, the instructor walked him in on the lead rope and half way through she took it off.

While he started off close, she eventually pushed him back to ride the fence. 

Learning to keep Raven on the fence. 

He loves every minute of it. 

Ben is learning both Western and English riding and uses English tack.  He absolutely adores Raven, the long haired black beauty is on in the pictures.   He is working hard towards his next horse show this spring too.  Tonight his instructor told me that the director of our hippotherapy group has never seen Ben ride outside of our previous group.  When she walked in the barn, Ben was sitting still and proud and very quiet on Raven. The director apparently asked if Ben was scared and his instructor said he wasn't, he was just being serious.  He has grown so much and thanks to Jennifer (his instructor) and her beautiful Raven, he will continue to do grow and learn in so many ways.  It's amazing to watch.  

Though it may not look like it, the 4 of these kids are paying attention to Jennifer.  Patiently watching and learning about tack and techniques.