I may have created a monster!

Emily has been asking for real riding clothes. We were in the area of a large tack shop that I knew had a large second hand section, so we went. It is not close to us and since we were there I had to get her stuff! It was cheap and in great condition and they had everything she needed in her size.

She of course LOVES her clothes!


She tried them on when we got home that night and she asked to sleep in them!! (I didn't let her) Then she wanted to wear it to the barn the next morning, again I had to say no. She can't keep anything clean! I should have bought a pair of "every day" britches! She really wants to do a horse show now too! So we are looking into going to a local show for leadline and see if the pony will mind. We don't know if he's ever been to a show or if it will freak him out. He has been so good for the kids I hope that he'll be his same calm self.

So anyway I did let Emily get dressed in all her stuff to ride in the afternoon. She didn't care it was hot she wanted everything on! She still wants to wear the britches in the house, so thankfully they are machine washable!

Tyler says he would like to show next year! So I still have time to get him clothes, but he really has a good relationship with the pony. The other day when Emily got all dressed up to ride, Grandma and Grandpa Cooper came to see them ride. Tyler was in his usually attire, shorts and crocks!


But he is really getting better in his riding and he loves to work around Killian and feed and take care of him. So when we were walking up from the ring, Emily wanted to lead him up and I helped her and Tyler was behind us with Grandma and Grandpa, but Killian kept stopping and looking behind him. I said to Tyler that Killian was waiting for him. So after the second time it happened Tyler caught up to us and went in front of him and Killian never looked back! It was really cute, like he didn't know why Tyler wasn't with us.

Fun in the HOT, HOT sun!

It's been a hot few days and tomorrow isn't going to be any better! But we've been staying cool. Yesterday we went back to the lake at High Point State Park.

Emily had great fun running in and out of the lake about a thousand times.

They still didn't make it to the top of the monument however. It was closed for the day by the time we got up there.
When we got home the kids wanted to show Aunt Cindy how they can ride their pony. But they didn't want to get dressed since it was so hot so they rode in their bathing suits. They have yet to ride in proper clothes!

Emily has been obsessed with "the Black Stallion" and she wanted to re-enact a scene...

Tyler had his turn too...


Now today we went to the Land of Make Believe and it was great! The perfect day for it too, it was sooooo HOT!!! We had a large group of family and friends that made it even more fun. Tyler was on the water slides nonstop! He never even went on the other rides.


Emily wasn't really ready for the water slides and she went in the wading pool, the lazy river and she went on the "dry" rides (Merry go round and stuff like that). You really needed to stay wet though and by the end of the day we got Emily on the big water slides and she loved it!! She went once with me and once with Cindy and the rest of the time she went with her idol, her cousin Kaitlyn! She went as many times as she could fit in before they closed the slides for the day!

Photo credit to my sister Cindy! :)

Day at the beach...sort of

It's not the ocean but it's supposed to be hot all week, and I was dripping sweat just doing the barn this morning. So with nothing better to do the kids and I went to High Point State Park and went swimming in Lake Marcia. It wasn't too crowded when we got there then a day care camp pulled in! It got a little crazy for a while but the kids settled in and Tyler and Emily had a few nice kids to play with. The water was pretty warm and the kids had a great time swimming. When we were done we drove up to the monument and had a look around. It was pretty hazy so we couldn't see too far.

We went up the first set of stairs but I wasn't going to the top!

I did it once when Tyler was little and I actually carried him most of the way. Once was enough for me! When the kids are older some one else can take them up (Daddy!)

Maybe not...

Today the kids and I went to a local horse show. We often pack a lunch and eat it at the fairgrounds when there is a show going on. It gets us out of the house and we like to watch the different horses. They have all sorts of shows from breed shows, hunter/jumper, dressage and others. Today it was a hunter/jumper show and we were watching a small jumper class (which usually means some poor riding!) and Tyler keeps saying maybe next year he'll take Killian to a show and jump. He was really watching and I was explaining about the jump off. As we were watching, a cute, chunky little black and white pinto jump-off, he ducked out and the girl fell off underneath him and the saddle slid around his belly. It looked like she might have been stepped on and it took her a minute to get up. Tyler says, "Alright, I am NOT doing a jump-off!"

But it didn't deter him from riding. They both rode Killian again and we worked just in the big part of the ring and I moved some rails in for them to walk over. Emily went first and did really good, she even stopped Killian from trying to pull the reins out of her hands to grab some hay. She did a great job of getting him straight when walking over the rails. And when it was Tyler's turn she was giving him advice about getting him to the center of the rails!

Well, at least the kids get to ride!

The kids are really getting into riding! Today they wanted to ride Killian and Spencer. Well Tyler wanted to ride Killian the whole time but he did get on Spencer too and give Emily a chance to ride Killian. Thankfully Spencer has really settled down and is really good at letting the kids walk around on him.


It was Spencers first time actually being in a ring with another horse being ridden. Sound strange, I know but it's true. At first he couldn't take his eyes off Tyler and Killian!! And I had to keep them seperated because Spencer isn't that fond of Killian! Spencer behaved very well and Emily had a great time walking him over rails. They love going over the rails on the ground. Killian was also very good, but I think he was a little worried about Spencer being in the ring with him. But once again he didn't spook or do anything wrong. He even stood perfectly still for Tyler to get off all by himself with out any help.

Killian

Sorry no new pictures, I keep forgetting to bring my camera to the barn. The kids are really enjoying their new pony, Killian. He is being such and angel! He has yet to spook at anything! He doesn't really enjoy getting his tack (saddle and bridle) on but once it is on he is fine. Both kids have been able to ride him all by themselves. They are just walking but they can go all over the ring and he will listen to them. Today they wanted to walk him over some ground poles, well actually Tyler wanted to jump him! But I said they had to learn a little bit more first! Like trotting!!

Rider

Today Emily put her cowgirl boots on to ride the pony and as we were leaving the house she says: "If some one sees me they'll think I'm an offical rider!" Nevermind she had pink shorts on.