Riding in cars with horses with the diva

Everyone who knows the diva knows her real love is for horses. It started with My Little Ponies, and has now festered into full blown mustangs, bay horses, stallions, jalopenos (palomenos) and so on. She eats with horse utensils (well ok maybe she would if I could find them.. so far it is just te kids meal cup from On the Border), she wears horse clothing, she sleeps in horse pj's, and at last count, she had around 20 stuffed horses.. ALL of which have some sort of food name, and ALL of which reside in her bed.



So after talking it over with the dad, we decided letting her "start" some horse lessons would be ok.. after all, she probably would not want to actually "ride" these great big beautiful creatures, they are a LOT different then her stuffed bedmates. So I called up a local (that would be a plus living down South.. the local = lots) horse ranch and found Mrs. Trisha, a rodeo barrel racer who also teaches lessons.. and will start as young as the diva.



"She may not want to ride them", I say hesitantly, "and remember, she is almost 3 so her attention span thus far is not all that long."

"It is fine, bring her over, we have lots of kids start off slow and then get more into it as lessons progress. Lets just see what she wants to do."



Ok sure, we shall see...

So we got dressed in our jeans and boots,

drove on over....



and








Meet Mrs. Trisha and Lillie (our new best friends). As you can see, the diva had NO issues whatsoever with attention, timidness, or anything having to do with horses. She listened to Mrs. Trisha as she went over how to brush the horsie, how to always let the horsie know where you are (so the horsie does not kick you), how to hold the reins, how to get the horsie to walk, stop, and turn..



Then we were introduced to Philly, a younger horse who I swear (except I don't) thinks she is a dog. No.. really.. a dog.. I personally think her name should be Cruella DeVille (hence the black/white mane hooves etc), but Philly suits her and everyone else just fine so I will keep my names to myself. She is MY favorite horse out there as she really does have the personality of a dog- she licks your face (no.. she did not lick mine) she plays fetch, tug o war, and she is just the friendliest horse I have ever met. The diva hit it off with her right away!

Along with her dog-like characteristics, Philly apparently likes Gatorade...

the grape kind best...

and did not care if a diva was attached to it or not...

The diva asks every day when we can go back. We have had two lesson and in two, the diva can now tell you every part of the riding gear, what each brush is used for, can get Lilly to walk and stop, and not only plays with Philly, but has the unheard of (or at least to the people who know these horses) relationship with a foal named Dublin (whom I will post more on later).

And I am not sure WHAT she had in her pocket but apparently Philly wanted some :)

*I just like her look...

To say she has a passion for horses would be an understatment :)

Course goes along with being a diva.. her passion would have to be something expensive!