A New Love for Horses

The day after the concert, our family went to Olney to enjoy a horse back ride with friends from church.

 It was the most perfect, glorious day for a ride. 

The scenery was breath-taking.  The weather was perfect.  The air crisp.  The sun shining!

The horse was extremely gentle and I demonstrated to the girls that she was "friendly" by petting her mane.  (Jillian had a traumatic experience with dogs when she was little and both Brad and I have been concerned her fear of dogs would translate to fear of all animals. I was really praying that our experience would be good one.)

Jillian decided she would give it a go, but you can tell by the grimace on her face, she wasn't so sure about it. 

We didn't walk for very long, before Jillian volunteered to let Faith go instead of her. Faith LOVED it. She was like a fish taking to water.  She felt extremely comfortable with the horse and really enjoyed her 1st ride.

On our walk, we passed by Dr. Pearce's horse, in the same field as the other "boy-horses".   He was also a nice horse (but a little younger) and we stopped a while to pet and talk to him.

Faith has her super serious riding face on.  But truly, she was having a fantastic time, and the horse was so good at keeping her in just the right spot.  If either child started to slide a little to one side, she would immediately stop and not take another step until we had the child centered again.

One of the boy horses being a little silly!

Faith taking the fun, woodsy path. 

Our little equestrian, Faith!  She was having such a great time.

Meanwhile, Dr. Pearce was giving Jillian a fun ride of her own.  It was a long walk, and Jillian was extremely thankful for the break. 

Faith giving us one last pose before she switched again with Jillian.

Faith thinking to herself "Christmas is coming up ... I've gotta get Daddy to get me one of these horses!" :-)

Jillian's turn again. The walk was beautiful.

Anna was a little tired of the stroller and wanted some holding time.  She did a good job of being patient on the walk.

Mrs. Pearce, Jillian, Faith, Brad, Anna, and Dr. Pearce

The sweet Pearces took Anna for a time too.

A little later, Anna went back in the stroller, but we were walking into the sun, so Brad started pulling the stroller (though by the time I got a picture of him, the trail had turned and the sun was back in Anna's eyes!)

 Jillian took a turn in the "fun woodsy path" too.

Careful stepping.

Mrs. Pearce was a patient leader and was really quite wonderful with the girls, calming them and encouraging them in their riding.  

God was faithful to answer our prayers that Jillian would have a positive experience with the horses. 

 She now says that horses are her favorite farm animal (dolphins for the sea and deer for the woods).

A tender good-bye.

The girls wanted to see Daddy go for a ride.  Here he is!

It was a short walk because the girls legs were getting tired, but all of us enjoyed our time watching daddy.

Anna and Dr. Pearce sharing a knowing glance.  Anna was telling Dr. Pearce she wanted to go on a ride too.  So ....

A quick photo-shoot followed.  

Anna was just a talking and loving on the pony.

Everyone saying their final goodbyes.

Thank you Dr. Pearce for introducing Anna to the wonderful love of horses! 

And a special thank-you to Mrs Pearce for leading, and lending, her beautiful horse.
Thank you Pearce's for a very memorable afternoon! We had such a wonderful time.