We thought it might be fun to take Carter to the Young Riders this summer and see if it was something she would like to do and maybe meet a few more kids to play with. I underestimated how much work was involved and how many kids go to this! However, I think she is going to enjoy the experience and she loves any excuse to ride her horse. She's certainly got plenty of cowgirl attitude!
Robert helping get her all saddled up on Strawberry. He explained to Carter that he had put on a more severe bit so she needed ask Strawberry nicely to do something before she just yanked on the bit. Well, Carter took him literally and you could hear her, very nicely, asking Strawberry to "please pick up your head and stop eating grass". It was pretty funny and cute.
This was the first time Carter had every ran barrels. Although she assured us she knew exactly what she needed to do, she'd been watching the other kids, Robert went ahead and walked her through the pattern.
Her time certainly didn't win any speed records, but the run was clean and she was smiling when they handed her a participation ribbon. Looking forward to doing it again next week and adding poles and maybe goat tying. Goat tying looked too darn cute with the little kid riding down, hoping off the horse and tying a ribbon on the goats tail. Hopefully we'll get a couple chances to practice before we go again.
