Horse riding ... sport or accident waiting to happen?

So we were really excited for our horse lessons that Aunt Sara and Uncle Jed got us for Christmas. For those of you that don't know, Aunt Sara rode and competed with horses growing up (and owned her own horse!), so she's a bit of an expert. Mom thought it might be fun for her to do this with us, and so did we!

Well, a couple weeks ago was our first lesson, and we were super excited when we got there - we even stopped on the way to get me a new pair of cowboy boots since my old ones didn't fit (and the trainer forgot to mention we needed shoes with a heel to ride).

So first up, is giving the horse (her name was Rosie) a good rub down prior to saddling her up. We were told to always touch the horse on the behind as you're walking behind them to make sure they know you're there (this will be a key point of info. later).

Next, we saddled Rosie up and I hopped on. I was loving it!

We walked, we trotted, I did the little "up and down" motion in the saddle to get started with my form. I had a blast, and didn't want to get off. 

But it was Maida's turn, and she was a little more timid about it.

But after a few circles around the arena, she was loving it too :)

Then our lesson was over and it was time to get Rosie's saddle off and do everything we had done at the beginning  - rub her down to get all the dirt off, etc. Well, as I was walking behind Rosie, I forgot to touch her bottom. But that wasn't the problem. The problem came when our trainer reminded me to always touch her bottom when walking behind her, so seeing as I was already behind her, I reached up to touch her bottom, and then Rosie gave me a swift kick straight to my leg. I flew back maybe 5 ft. and landed on my back, totally stunned of course. And that's when the pain hit me and I started screaming bloody murder. Mom said she just started looking for blood, but thankfully there was none (I actually won't let her talk to me about the whole thing because I'm still a bit traumatized). 

Thank goodness Rosie just got me in the leg, which resulted in it being sore for a few days, and a wicked bruise. We have one more lesson in a couple weeks, and I'm still working up my nerve to go. Mom keeps telling me to forgive Rosie, she was just spooked and wasn't trying to hurt me. I'm not sure I'm there yet, but I'm working on it.

On a lighter note, we went ice skating on Evergreen Lake yesterday afternoon and had a blast. I've asked Mom and Dad for skating lessons in the spring so I can learn to play hockey :)