L’s preschool class recently went on a field trip to a nearby horse farm. L.(3) was very excited. He had never seen a horse “up close and personal,” and was sure that playing with the horses was going to be wonderful. The kids even had the option of taking a brief “riding lesson,” something L. was eager to do.

Now, L. won’t even ride on his own dad’s shoulders because it’s “too high” and he is sure he’s “going to fall!!!!” so we weren’t sure how the whole horse-riding thing was going to go. But we figured we’d just encourage him and give him the opportunity and see what happened.

First up, they learned all about horses and the fact that they need four things: 1) Safety, 2) Comfort, 3) Food, and 4) Play. Next, they had a chance to feed the horses some hay. Each child got a “flake” of hay to put into the field.

One horse happened to take interest in L. and when L. pushed his hay through the fence, the horse was right there to dig in. L. was highly impressed with the horse’s size.

The kids explored a horse trailer, checked out indoor and outdoor riding/performing areas, and had some lunch. Then came: The Riding Lessons.  L. was still gung-ho about getting up on a horse, so after a few of his friends had their lessons, L.’s turn arrived. The horse was big. This wasn’t a pony or a miniature horse. It was a Horse. L. climbed up some steps to prepare to mount, and before long he was situated, feet in stirrups, on Knobby the horse.

Miss Pam, the instructor, led Knobby around the arena and taught L. about his “inside rein” and his “outside rein.” The idea was to learn to raise and pull on the appropriate rein in order to get Knobby to turn left or right. But L. was too busy using a Death Grip on the edge of the saddle.  His eyes remained focused on Knobby’s neck and I could tell that all his energy was being funneled into Not Falling and Not Yelling.

He did a great job. And by the end of his lesson, with Miss Pam’s help and patience, he was much more comfortable and even willing to raise the reins a bit.

L. told me that riding the horse was “Great!!” but “a little scary and pretty bumpy.” But that he was “very brave” and loved riding Knobby.