I thought I’d write a little update on where Florence is at with her horse riding. I’ve never really spoken about it before but if you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen her in action.
Her love affair with horses started way back when she was around 4/5 years old and we went around to a friends house who had a couple of horses. Florence and Logan both got to have a little ride around their field and from then on all she spoke about was horse-this and horse-that.
Florence was invited to a few riding parties where the kids got to glitter the ponies, tack them up and ride and she had the best time. Fast-forward a couple of years and we now live in a house which has a riding school for children on its doorstep. We decided to sign Florence up for lessons, one 30 minute lesson per week, to see how she got on. Suffice to say she was smitten.
It’s an expensive hobby but it was worth it to see her smiling and proud of her achievements on the horses. After the lesson she’d come out beaming and tell me all about which horse she rode and how fast they went or what small jumps they went over.
I had no choice but to take Florence’s sisters down to the yard with me. It wasn’t an issue when they were younger but as they got a little older they were much more difficult to keep under control. As the winter came round, the three of us would sit in the car until Florence had finished but the little ones got super grumpy and so we ended up stopping the lessons altogether as it was causing more hassle week after week.
I feel as though we really should get her up and running again at the riding school but life has just got in the way. Florence has done a few other clubs in the meantime but they’ve all run their course or finished now and I just know that if I suggested she started riding again she’d bite my arm off!
I’d love to have a home big enough to have a horse one day. Just the one to keep as a little riding horse – but that’s not cheap. I’d be worried about vets bills and all the illnesses I know nothing about such as laminitis. I feel like keeping horses is something you really need to have some kind of knowledge of before you decide owning a horse is the right choice for you. There seem to be a lot of things to consider and illness is one of them. You can check out Spillers guide on laminitis for more information.
I’d love to hear if you have any experience of keeping horses as a hobby/pet. Or if your child is a member of the Pony Club. Florence never got around to joining the Pony Club but I feel this might have been the step she needed to fully immerse herself into the horsey life!
