Horseback Riding in HOT & HUMID Weather






I love you so much, Samurai!!* Thud.

   I had to do it; I pushed forward clicking and tapping Samurai on his rump with my crop. He sped up. I raised myself to jumping position: AT THE LAST MINUTE, he swerved, heading to the right at full speed to his Arch Enemy, Volt, who my little brother was astride. Volt half reared, Samurai swerved, and I yanked the reins hard to avoid conflict, falling over Samurai's head and grabbing his mane for dear life!!!!




  At the beginning of the video you can't see me, but you hear my instructor, Monsieur Arnou and my brother are yelling," Stay away from VOOOOOOOOOLT....!!" and my mother is talking with her best British accent. :)


Tristan & his trusty steed, Lucky Luke.

  We take riding lessons at an Equestrian Center (courtesy of GranAnnie, Thank you so much!)
Today our lesson focused on jumping! Fun.  No really! ...As long as you don't fall off..... (which we have done...ow)


Aidan and Volt

It is hot. And humid. And we're riding in over 92 degree Fahrenheit weather. But we're alive.


Christianna gets her own personal ring, a pony named Mickey, and the cutest saddle blanket ever!



 Controlling horses isn't as easy as all the books I've read make it out to be. Sometimes they don't want to jump, they swerve, and bang your knee into the supports (which has only happened to me, and I never want it to happen again!) Or sometimes the two horses that are cantering at each other have long, drawn out histories and decide to fight. But all of it is quite an experience once you get used to it.





Samurai likes swerving. A lot. He also has a fear of fences,poles, and Volt. In the above video, this is
Try #5. Aidan is so pleased that I FINALLY!!!! make it, he yells in celebration.



  In the above video, Samurai decides that jumping is below him, and takes a leisurely walk.


I spy with my little eye a very uncooperative horse.....




 As mentioned, Volt and Samurai are Arch Enemies. Above is a near collision. NOT FUN.
I have rammed into Volt before. Samurai cut across the arena and when he reached an incensed Volt, turned 360 and banged my leg into Volt's rump. Fun. Yeah.





We have succeeded at times!!!!!




Yeah!



GO, GO, GO! Aidan likes yelling like a cowboy...



SUCCESS!


We end with Christianna's tranquil finale.




*Special thanks to Mom for standing in the hot African sun to take ALL this footage! Three Cheers for Mommy!



Comments

  1. GranAnnieOctober 3, 2015 at 10:13 AM

    I'm so glad I visited. From your words, I can visualize just how the lessons went including the highs and the lows of the horses' temperaments! Miss you and your family so much. Love, GranAnnie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maryann SophiaOctober 5, 2015 at 11:27 AM

      You worded that so correctly!
      Mom is going to send you pictures from the open-house there, it was really fun.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE AWAITED REVIEW OF PADDINGTON!

Image
The awaited review of Paddington!!! All in all, Paddington was a great, cute, funny, family movie.  It's about a bear who visits London, England after living all his life in 'Darkest Peru.' You can imagine how overwhelmed he is! "London!" While he is in London, he stays with the Browns, a comical family who made us all laugh so hard! Mr. Brown,  Mrs.Brown, Jonathon, and Judy. But danger soon finds the little bear in the shape of a evil taxidermist with one reason in life: To kill Paddington! Millicent was played by Nicole Kidman.  My only (small) complaint about the movie is that Millicent's lines and character were a little over done, but that just made us laugh more at it! Living internationally, I know a lot of people from the UK. So watching this movie I found the British humor even more hysterical. Paddington and one of his 'antics.' Paddington in Judy's room after a bath.... Something my
Read more

We DON'T Have Running Water!!!

Image
  With water swishing in the buckets on our heads and dripping down our arms, Tristan and I walked unsteadily down the rocky, dirt road leading to our backyard. Kicking the gate open, we trudged up to our 'reservoir' (a burnt-mustard, fifty-gallon plastic container).  Then we slowly poured our prize inside. Why? Because right now we don't have running water! Our routine has looked really funny the past few days: the water kicks on for literally five minutes and everyone runs around like maniacs filling empty buckets and washing their hair. So trust me, we all stink . This is how we take baths right now....  Doing the dishes and washing our hands is hard enough, but doing laundry is especially difficult. We have to manually pour water into the machine until it works. Drinking water is pretty much taken care of. We have a big bucket next to our sink filled with clean water. If needed, we just buy bottled-water or boil tap water for 6 minutes, although this is our las
Read more

10 things you should NEVER say/do to an MK

Image
   When MKs go to events (usually church gatherings or mission events at churches) they commonly have at least one, maybe some or even all of the actions listed below. NEVER do the following ! :   Put them in the spotlight, make them stand in front of kids their age or everyone, and talk about 'how awesome they are!' .....   Unless you have their permission to talk about their ministry (or whatever) NEVER do this. In fact, ask them if they would like to introduce themselves and let them do the talking. If they refuse, drop it. They are a regular person, with normal fears, and are not superstars.      2.   "I mean, you are, like, so cool. I mean, living overseas! How awesome. I wish, like, I were                you."  Over-praise and over-exaggeration makes anyone nervous and ill at ease. And just so you know, life overseas is not always so awesome. We have political trouble, personal trouble, and the problems of other people to deal with. Just make it
Read more