It was my granddaughter’s birthday this month, so we had our get-together this weekend.
She came for a sleep-over on Friday night. I picked her up at day-care and we stopped at the beach on the way home because it was quite hot and a paddle and some sand play was seeming like a good thing to do. We got some chicken, noodles, broccoli and asparagus and made a lovely stir fry for supper, then we cut up some carrots and apples for the horses we were going to ride today.
We went up to Wildwood Manor Ranch which is near Erin, and planned to get there early so we could feed the horses the treats and then have a good chance of getting some nice “tame” horses as The GD has only had one pony ride before, and I haven’t been a regular rider for decades. The last stable we went to only let children her age ride ponies and would not let them go on the trail rides, and she was most unhappy about that. So we switched stables and had a wonderful time with some really well-mannered horses.
The staff was really great too, and the place apparently has a camp that they run during the summer. I’d love to get back there and try to make riding a part of what I do more frequently.
Davina sneaking a carrot for herself.
Sizing up the available horseflesh
There was a bit of trepidation when she initially got up on the horse, though it was not a really huge one, but very soon into the ride she was having a really good time and quickly learned how to make her horse stop and wait when it got too close to the horse in front. Her horse was named Smokin, and mine was named Rain – also a well-trained and biddable lady.
Part of the group who doesn't want their horses to run.
All alone, way up high.
Two new practices here that I hadn’t run across before was that the smaller kids don’t get stirrups fitted as these folks say it’s safer for them to not be in stirrups, and the use of plastic shower caps under the helmets, no doubt necessitated by the epidemic of head lice around all the junior schools in Southern Ontario. So after some basic instruction s on starting, stopping, turning and the absolute imperative of NOT screaming no matter what happened, we were off. Joining the regular riders was a pack of Girl Guides, all about 12 years old.
If you should go to the woods today . . .
Checking to see that granny is right behind
It was an absolutely perfect day for a trail ride in the woods. Hot enough to make the shade welcome, but not so hot as to be uncomfortable. Peaceful, just interrupted by birdsong and the sound of the wind rustling the leaves. At least until the Guides started the entertainment portion of the program. The first episode was on young lady calling out to all her peers ” I really think this would be an excellent time to remember our posture”. I thought I’d fall off my horse laughing and tried not to be obvious or make any snorting sounds. Some of the other young ladies were also first-time riders and I’m sure that they were much more concentrated on the death-grips that they were certain was all that was keeping them off the ground than their posture at that moment. Then another young lady gave a rhapsodical monologue about how ‘environmental’ she felt, and how wonderful it was to be “driving a horse”, among other things. They were quite an interesting group.
The ride was just perfect and when we got to the cleared meadow area, they separated those who wanted to go for a good run from us walkers and we went meandering around the meadow while the runners went a ways away and got their thrills.
After the ride The GD and I drove into Erin for lunch. A lovely small town and I wouldn’t mind going there again either. We found the ice-cream store that everyone at the stables told us about, and got a hot dog with cheese and bacon each and then had some really good local ice cream to top it off. Next door to the ice cream place was a store that sold locally made tourtierres, and other ready-made goodies like shepherds’ pie, and they had fresh fish and meat, and some huge rounds of good cheese, as well as many other things like sauces and jams.
I wanted to bring a few things home – they were giving samples of the tourtierre and it was really good – but had no cooler, so they found me one of the styrofoam packing boxes that some of their goods came in and that kept things cool and/or frozen until I got home after I dropped The GD back at her house so her mother could see her too. It was just a lovely weekend.
The Ice Cream Store
Good food
