Giddyup Cowboy!!!!!

Last Saturday, we decided to get in touch with our inner cowboy and cowgirl. For those of you who don't know, my dad owns a horse. Her name is Xu Xa (pronounced shu sha) and she is what is commonly known as a Paint. She is about 15 years old and so she is pretty tame as a horse. My dad got her about 4 years ago and when we first got her she was apparently kind of brat. Since then though, my dad has worked very hard, and she has become very well behaved.


When we first got out there, my dad had already gotten her into the round pen and then we waited for a bit while her ready. It's quite the procedure. You have to put the halter on and let her run around a second to get her to calm down. Once you have done that, you put the saddle blanket on. Then the saddle, but you can't cinch it up all the way. What a horse will do when you first put the saddle on his with the cinch under their belly, they will stick there stomachs out so that you can't tighten it so much around them. Then when relax, it gives them more room, and doesn't make the saddle as tight. This is great for them, but if you try to ride the saddle, then you are liable to slide right off and get trampled. The sound of that just really makes we want to make sure that the saddle is nice and tight.

I was the first to get on the horse. This is only the third time that I have ever ridden on the horse, and I will be the first to admit, that it's something that I find a little scary. My dad's horse for example weighs 1100 pounds, has a mind of it's own, and frankly, I don't know very well how to control her. I know that I just need to spend more time on her, but I just haven't really gotten around to it. I rode her around the pen a couple of times and that was about all that I did.

After I got off, we had my niece out there. She is only a year old, and it was fun to watch her look at the horse. We actually even got her on the horse at one point, and she seemed to be a little scared right after first but definitely didn't want to get off the horse towards the end.





Ashley was the last one to get on the horse, and was more natural on Xu Xa than I was. I was impressed with how well she did on the horse. She was turning, going this direction, going that direction, and then, after about 5 minutes of being out there, she proclaimed that she was ready to gallop. I wasn't nearly that bold being on the horse. Now Ashley wants to get a horse, or I should say, she wants her Dad to get a horse. Who knows, maybe our dads will now become horse buddies?