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| Photo by my lovely friend Makala Doughty |
We all love horses. A family walk is always made more magical by the sight of a horse in a field or a wild Preseli mountain pony. I loved my friend’s photo (above) of a wild horse so much she had it printed out for me which was so thoughtful.
The kids love to go pony riding, though I haven’t yet booked them into regular weekly lessons. They already have a lot on and going to so many different clubs it works out to be very expensive.
There are a lot of new skills that the kids want to learn- rowing, surfing, sailing, skiing and horse riding being some of the most popular. As our term time weeks are pretty full on, I try to book intensive lessons over the half term and termly school holidays.
This summer, we have chosen to concentrate on surfing. Danny and Rebecca are both now old enough for lessons while I can body board and swim with Caitlyn and Isabelle.
Next summer holidays though, they hope to spend time horse riding. When I was younger, I would read lots of stories where someone would own a horse but not have the time to groom and exercise it. A lucky girl would get free lessons and riding time in exchange for “mucking out” and grooming the horse. I wished that opportunity would arise for me but alas it never did. I still hope that when my kids are old enough and if they’re still interested they will get the chance to care and groom for a stabled horse whilst taking lessons. It will save us some money but most importantly be a realy good learning experience for them.
For now, they play with their toy ponies and horses, read Pony Club books, draw horses and do horse craft, watch My Little Pony DVDs and more recently started playing virtual horse games.
For adults who love horse racing there are lots of sports and horse racing sites. Remember if you take a flutter to always check the online terms and conditions of a big bonus.
For kids, there are suitable sites too. My girls love playing Star Stable, (and I admit that I may have played a bit too!). it’s an amazing virtual horse game where we explore the beautiful island of Jorvik on the back of our very own horse (designed and named by us). It is a very popular game and lots of tumblers and blogs have been set up about the game too (we enjoy reading these). It’s a bit of a dream come true for me- riding my own horse in a stable in a beautiful setting! We get to experience adventures, compete in races, care for our horses and solve the mysteries of the story. There are paying options but you can also play the first four levels for free.
It’s great fun and we’re really enjoying playing it!
Do you love horses? Are you on Star Stable too? If so, let us know so we can “be friends”!
