Horsing Around
10-30-2004, 8:20 p.m.

My friend Laura owns a horse, and she has used the same stables to board it for years.. well maybe not this particular horse, but she has had horses much of her life. Anyway, a few months back we had started talking about taking June there for an afternoon because she loves horses so much (heck she loves animals period), and while we both thought it would be a great idea, time just sort of gets away from you. Then a couple of weeks ago, she (Laura) told me that she has a paper to write for such, in which she needs to interview a child around June�s age. Since she doesn�t have any nieces or nephews and her daughter is 16 now, she asked if I thought that June would mind being interviewed. As we talked about the plans to get together, the idea of going to the stables came back up and we decided that it would be a nice time to do both. So we planned for going today, and June has been beside herself waiting for it to come.

A couple weeks ago, my niece Kathleen, saw the movie spirit and since then has been obsessed with horses, in the way that 2 year olds will get. It�s been cute, and she can�t get enough of movies with horses in them, or with playing with the couple horses that she has. She carries them around, calling them spirit and baby spirit. It�s adorable. Last weekend, they took her to the pumpkin patch and she got to see some ponies. Since then the obsession has grown, and all she talks about is horses. So, I asked my SIL if she would let me take her with us for the day, and she agreed, and since Laura said it would be okay too we planned it.

When I stopped to pick up Kathleen this morning, they told me that she had been throwing up the day before, but since she was acting normal and didn�t have a fever at all, we all decided that she would probably be okay to go still. She was excited, and we didn�t want to disappoint her. Well, about halfway there she started getting upset, crying that she wanted to go back home, and that she needed her mommy. I was distraught because there was no way I could take her home at this point, but I didn�t want her to be upset. Tonya kept telling me that she would be fine once we got there, so we trudged onward. About a mile or so before we got there however, all hell broke loose. She threw up everywhere� all over herself and Tonya (sorry Tonny, glad it was you though, lol). Afterward she felt much better, but I was worried. My plan was the clean her up and take her back home, leaving June behind with Laura (I figured I could pick her up later). Once Kathleen saw the horses out the window though, she got excited and I just couldn�t bear to not let her see them. I figured that if she started acting sick, we could leave. But she totally was fine the rest of the day. We had so much fun spending the day at the stables. They got to groom a pony and feed the horses apples, carrots, cookies and candy. They got to ride both a big horse (Kathleen rode with Laura, June by herself), and they both got to ride the pony by themselves (Well we held on to Kathleen from both sides). They were both beside themselves with excitement. It really was an awesome experience. I know that they will both have memories of doing this with me, and that is awesome for me. June will always remember it, and Kathleen, well at least for a couple of weeks (she is only 2 so I hold no notions of her always remembering).

June did so well though, that I am going to talk to Sherry and Chuck about maybe getting her lessons. I could even help pay for them. Laura was so impressed with her, she said that June was doing things that most kids don�t learn to do in over 10 lessons. To see June so happy and proud of herself was so worth anything to me, and maybe it could even help her with school. Having something that she doesn�t struggle with, but does well naturally would raise her confidence and help her. And.. the thought of having this activity to do, only if she is trying hard at school, might help kept her focused as well. It�s a thought and I hope that Chuck and Sherry agree. At any rate though, Laura said that she would take her out a couple more times and that is something at least.

I bought Kathleen a horse set to give her today too. It has over a hundred pieces to it, including at least 8 different stables, and a ton of horses. When we gave it to her, her eyes were so wide, and she couldn�t wait for us to help her get it all set up. She loves it, and I know that she will spend a lot of time playing with it. I am so glad that I got to share this day with both Kathleen and June. It�s been so great. I so need to think of something to do to thank Laura for making it possible. She has become such a great friend, and I am so glad of that. I hope she knows it.

I will post some pictures of our horsey-day a little later. I want get some of them together to get printed to take to Kevin and Nicole tomorrow too. And some for June to take home.