Ride Jacob Ride

As I often do, I went to the barn after I got the kids home from school to go ride one of my horses. It's a chore that I have come to enjoy a lot. I love horses and am rather sad that, at this stage of the game, none of my children seem to enjoy these lovely animals as much as I do. That would be, of course, with the exception of Brandilyn. She is married and lives far away and is not able to ride anymore. I miss that as much as I miss her.

I have always thought of the twins as just content to sit around in their rooms and do nothing. Well, nothing in my opinion. Jacob likes to play with his Legos or obsess about his Matchbox cars - put them in rows by color and style or whatever. At any rate, when I'm at the barn they are usually up in their rooms doing whatever it is that they do.

Yesterday, however, was different. I was tacking up my horse to ride and I heard, "Mom, what are you doing?" I turned around to find Jacob riding down to see me on his scooter. Wow! What a surprise. I'll take it! He then asked if he could ride a horse too. That took me back but then I heard myself say, "Yeah, let's go get Zoe for you to ride."

His little face was beaming as he was trying to lead her down to the barn. He was a little intimidated by such a large animal but was eager to help brush her and asked a tone of questions about the different pieces of tack I was putting on her. He wasn't even scared when I hoisted him up and into the saddle and handed him the reins. I have to tell you, he did pretty good! I had to get on him a little bit about how to do a few things. I wish I had a picture to show about how he had the reins up around his ears as he was trying to make Zoe stop or slow down.

After a bit, we went on a "tour". We left the arena and walked around the place. I was on Mosca and he was on Zoe. There was one little spot where Zoe decided to take off at a fast trot and Jacob became a little panicked. I loped up and grabbed his reins and got the mare under control. He tootled around with me for about 45 minutes. I was so dog gone proud of him!!!

So, is this another shot at having a riding partner? I don't know but I will ride this one out!! For now, you can find me in the barn cleaning tack or getting one of my horse ready with a new little sidekick - Jacob!