Aurora's First Ride

One of the girls from work has an 8 year old daughter who desperately wanted to ride a horse and it finally worked out for her to come out and hop on the mare.

Considering the mare had a meltdown over walking through the water the day before I didn't have much hope of getting past leading her around at the walk.  The mare continues to surprise me because she was a complete saint.  She took great care of Aurora.  By the end of the ride Aurora was riding solo, no lunge line, complete with walk, stop and solid left and right turns.  She was also starting to get the hang of posting trot on the lunge line.

I couldn't have been more proud of the mare!  She did a very quiet jog and anytime Aurora got off balance she came right back to a walk.  She was actually a little lazy (that never happens!) so Aurora had to pony club kick her to get her to walk.

After she took cookies like a complete lady and stood like a statue for Aurora to brush her.  Good Mare!

I think the affection is mutual.