Barn Rat

Taking the kid to the barn has been one of the more entertaining things going on this Spring.  As she exits "babyland" and sets foot firmly in toddlerdom, the opportunity to saddle her with my crippling horse obsession has presented herself.

I try to keep my expectations low, and whenever anyone asks me if "she loves horses too" I tend to respond with "she loves anything that's fuzzy.  Including old socks." 

And while that's true, the kid does adore the horses and pretty much all of her imaginary playtime is taken up with them somehow (unless she's playing with her fake kitchen emulating my cooking - which involves a lot of shouting and frustrated noises... shrug?). 

Anyway,  It's cute. 

At home she has commandeered an old Hobby Horse which takes turns being Windsor, or another Eq horse in the barn, or Chico Linda (sp!?) from Spirit- running free. 

on course.

She takes her Hobby Horse management very seriously, and you WILL be scolded if you try to ride before brushing your horse.  You will also be scolded if you don't give the Hobby Horse a carrot.  Or enough pats.  Or tell it thank you for jumping...

Also, everything is a jump, (her lead changes are pretty good) and she is disappointed when she knocks something down.  She sleeps with a plastic (non breyer) horse named "White White" and recently started trying to learn how to wrap polos on her pretend ponies.

At the real barn, she is obsessed with a big, lovely (fancy) mare who tolerates her.  She attempts two-point while walking over poles and can hand out over 10lbs of carrots in under 2 minutes.  She loves to brush legs and thinks hoofpicks are fascinating.

She recently got a new helmet and won't take it off (new paddock boots are on order and will likely suffer a similar fate).

But perhaps one of my most enjoyable moments to date, was taking her up to a horse show last weekend, and watching her ride the Derby winner back to the barn.  Just last year she was too small to ride Winds when he won the class, but my trainer's son had the honors. 

It was one of those moments where I realized how fun it was to have her along and actually enjoying the horses and the show and the camaraderie of our barn family. 

I'm thinking there is a whole other aspect to this horse thing being a mom - and it looks like a lot more fun than I thought it would.