Caballito Blanco, llevame de aqui....

Friday:

For the past few days Monica has had the responsibility of watching the Couch's ranch for them while they've been away. She's often over there working so she knows what to keep an eye on and which water tank to check and which pasture the cows should be in, etc. During the days that she was 'ranch-sitting' we were able to go over there a couple times and go riding which was a HUGE treat for all of us=) I went over with Monica on Friday afternoon while the storm clouds were brewing but we actually had perfect weather and it was great fun riding just the two of us.Of course 99% of the work falls on Monica to get all of us horse-ignorant people ready to ride but she knows what she's doing and loves the chance to be around the horses.I basically opened and closed gates and took pictures.....Since I didn't take the camera on the ride here are a few pics from when it was over - me and 'my ride', Squirt.And Monica rode Pepsi who celebrated the saddle coming off with a good roll=)

*(Side Note: On Sunday afternoon while Matthew, Zach, Logan and I were at the park for the baseball games Monica stayed home with Jesse and Alana. She and the boys had spent the whole day there on Saturday and she was ready for an afternoon at home and we had the game to play in so it seemed like a good idea. Well, she took A and J over to the ranch to check the cows and ended up having car trouble and having to walk a looooong ways through the pastures and down the gravel road back to the ranch to call us and figure out what to do - while taking turns carrying J and A! Poor girl! But she handled it all well and was very thankful her little sibling behaved very well in the middle of some not so comfortable circumstances! And James gets the *Buffalo Gap Good Neighbor Award* for rescuing the stranded Chamberland kids.)

Monday:

Yesterday afternoon I went over with all the kids and everyone got a chance to ride. It seemed to take a while to get Squirt singled out from the other 4 and ready so the little kids entertained themselves riding the saddles while waiting for the real thing=)Monica usually brings all the horses in and runs them around the corrals a few times to calm them down so they're easier to deal with. They are sooo beautiful to watch! I have a definite favorite....look at him - he's GORGEOUS!

You can see in the video how Monica makes them run around a bit to calm them down. They need to 'release their wiggles'=)

But as pretty as the Arabian is, he's definitely not the best when it comes to taking little kids for a ride=) So, Squirt was given that job and did quite well once he settled down from having a fly go up his nose! The kids took turns brushing him as Monica got him all saddled and haltered and ready to lead around the corral.

Here's Zach waiting for his turn - I just thought it was a cool picture of the birthday boy=)

Little Miss Fearless was up first since she was the one who seemed the most ready to ride, no hesitation what so ever. If Squirt snorted or tossed his head the others would get a little nervous, while Alana just looked around and smiled=)Look at these next two pictures - Jesse thought he wanted to ride until I was setting him up on the saddle - then his mind changed most definitely! Mean mother that I am I made him do it and walked beside him the first time and then let them go with just Monica the second time, as you can see he had a change of heart. Logan did great holding him and keeping him calm.Zach got to ride on his own and I hope overall had a good day. Even though it was his birthday he did have to mow the lawn, but he was excused from the dishes=) He finished out the day staying up late with his big sister and dad watching Lord of the Rings, which means that I go and find something else, anything else, to do=) Lucky for you all, I picked blogging=)

On that note....Thank you Monica and Squirt for all the riding and the fun we had pretending we were cowboys=)