Saturday mornings are my favorite day of the week. I am willing to forego the weekend sleep-in just to wake early. The roads are still empty and my babe sleeps soundly. It is the most peaceful part of my day. Me and my little horse lover Mikayla head out to the stables for our weekly ride. I’m a little jealous now – Mikayla was just invited to join Pony Club after a summer of half hour lessons. This allows her to spend the entire morning learning about grooming and riding the horses. She will get a true hands-on experience oiling the saddles, cleaning the shoes and even mucking the stables and I think she is absolutely the luckiest girl in the world. Me, well I’m only getting that half hour lesson, but in that 30 minutes of time I am in pure bliss. I haven’t ridden English since I was about 9 years old. Once I rode a Western saddle I was convinced I would never go back. I always thought all the pomp and circumstance of posting and dressage were a little too snooty for my taste, but I’ve been proved wrong yet again. The high I get as soon as I’m in the saddle lasts the entire weekend and I’m dreaming about the day I finally get to jump the posts. But for now I’m learning how to post properly in a canter, doing 3 and 4 point serpentine turns and best of all - riding in a full gallop, sinking way down, deep into the saddle – it’s one of my childhood dreams come true. The owner Helen runs the place with such passion and compassion. Many of her horses are rescued race horses and she’s also opened her heart to abandoned dogs, cats, pigs, ponies, ducks and donkeys. Its one of the many alternative lives I would have chosen to live. I know the labor of love she has with her farm and I know what a hard life it can be, but I can tell you I have never seen such a happy person. She is up at dawn, seven days a week caring for all those who depend on her and she greets each day with a smile because she is living her dream – how romantic!
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