And Then She Just Flat Out Did It!

We talked about challenges. We talked about resilience. We talked about confidence. We talked about expanding our horizons by doing difficult things. 

 When we finished up a few kids were asking me about which horses they would be riding over the weekend, what times the lessons were, etc. A new rider who has been in the saddle only a few times waited for the others to stop talking and then she said something to me. She is soft spoken, and I was worn out and as a result I was not listening as closely as I try to when kids talk to me. I only thought about what she meant the next day. 

 After all of our talk about building confidence, challenges, resilience, and expanding our horizons by doing difficult things, she had softly said to me, "I am ready to start trotting and riding faster next time."

 And yesterday Grace did it. She trotted. She trotted with confidence. She trotted on Trouble, a wonderful little Colonial Spanish horse of Belsky, Choctaw, and Bookcliff lineage. And in a few years, I have no doubt that I will overhear her talking to a new young rider who is a bit apprehensive about riding. I will hear her explain that she used to feel the same way, but that Trouble is a great horse to start trotting on. I will hear her offer to run along beside Trouble as he takes that child on its first trot.

And the Circle won't be Broken.