The Best Day of Her Life, Ever

Well, we contacted our friend Lehti about riding their pony again. This time, it was Anya's idea and she really wanted to do it. All the other things Anya has experienced over the last 14 months have been thrust upon her. Riding now, after learning about horses and falling in love with them, maybe even more than dogs, is really an Anya thing. 

She told me the day before we were to ride all about her expectations for the next day. 

"I will walk the Logan, I will ride him, I will jump over the fences..." You can't say the girl doesn't have high goals.

I wanted Anya to experience all the parts of horsemanship and since the pony was being boarded at stables for the time being, we went to Lehti's house to help muck out their four stalls. Let me tell you, this Russian can outwork almost anyone I know. She just goes and goes and goes, especially when it has to do with cleaning.

Anya with their new 3 month old gerbil.

Aren't the colors in her hair amazing?

So we left the house to head to the stables. We had the horse trailer hooked up to the large truck so we could bring back one of their horses from the stables. What else to you do on the way to the stables with a horse trailer on your truck than take it all through a drive thru? I double checked that this would work. Once there, I saw that there weren't any walls or enclosures (well, just one at the pay window) on the passenger side so it wasn't as dangerous as I had imagined!

It was so neat to go to the stables after watching so much of The Saddle Club. First we went to see one of their ponies that was there (Casey) and met some lovely horses. Then we took Logan out to the paddock (I think that is what it is called, a fenced off pen for the horses). Next we helped them get Casey get ready for Lehti's daughter to ride. We watched that for awhile and Anya asked Lehti if she could go over to the paddock and give Logan an apple. Sure enough we let go by herself about 300 feet away to the pony and we couldn't even see her. She did it and even fed the apple with a flat hand like Lehti showed her and came back with both hands in tact!! 

Look at Anya's delight at being able to carry a saddle!!

"Hello nice horsey."

"Logan, where are you?"

Putting Logan into the paddock.

Bringing Logan over to get tacked up for his rides.

After that it was time to cool down Casey. Anya watched Lehti wash the pony and then took her turn at it. The horses open their lips really big and expose their teeth when you shoot water at their mouths! Some horses that were worth quite a bit of money were being washed too in the showers next to ours. They were really beautiful.

Washing Casey.

Casey was tied up to the trailer to dry while we got Logan ready for his rides. Anya was allowed to get Logan out of the paddock, while I stood by. Like I can chase a horse down if it chooses to run from her. Lehti's daughter rode Logan around for exercise and to wear him out a bit for Anya's ride. But, lo and behold, it was Anya's turn. As we were getting ready, before she rode, I was giving An some food and water at the truck. A young lady came by saying, "Excuse me, is this your horse?" She had Casey by the lead and was bringing him back to us. I really didn't know if he was ours or not, I had to ask Anya! Apparently, he saw Logan and escaped to be with him while drying off.


Anya rode really well. It did help that Logan is 9 and is trained so well that he responds to a clicking noise to go. Little Miss Miss held her hands just right and pulled them correctly for stopping and turning. Lehti is a great teacher for her too. She just loves seeing Anya discovering and learning.

We talked with lots of people at the stables and looked at many other horses. Finally it was time to wash Logan, pick up some hay at a feed store and bring Casey home.


What a day, what a day, what a day!


~Monica