Horses and Kids..... add stories here and photos...

This past weekend I had some family over and one of the special people that came to visit was my neice Mackenna. She is 8 now. Some kids in a family just really do stick to the horsey thing. Not all of them but some of neices/nephews are really into it... Toby is my horse that I let the kids around and if he says it is okay I let them up on him.....

what we did this weekend was open the gate to the arena and I explained to her that if he came out to her to come in the house and get me from cooking and we would do the next thing.... for quite a while he stayed outside and observed... she sat on the platform and waited..... I explained to her how to not look at him right in the face and to go ahead and bend her body to beckon him in...

45 minutes later that patient child came into the house and said, Aunt Jennifer he is here..... and there he was at the front gate..... I showed Mackenna signs that we would look for to be sure that Toby was accepting of her before we got too close and made him go away.. in other words, joining up a little... I don't believe that strangers should jump on horses and just go but that is just me maybe and my naitivety that the horse should have a choice... Toby stayed with us...... after that we walked with him so she could see if he would follow us...... he did..... then we got a brush and I put some hay in a bucket and I let her brush him while she stood on the stool....... then I took him away from his snack and he complied with my request and walked with us some more and he started breathing heavy out his nose and licking and chewing and lowering his head and shaking it a little and you could just see him start to relax... then Mackenna did some breathing...... and she said she wasn't scared, Toby wasn't scared.... we got some good pics.... I made her wait almost 3 hours to get up on him... he's not had a rider in awhile and he's an elder horse so I always wait for his calming signals and let him let me know that he's okay and when he's okay I let the kids on..... he is very sweet to them if I am with him and Mackenna was more than willing to wait and be patient and listen to what I was showing her about what a horse might be saying and about language. her banter was very cute and she really had some ideas on the subject. ... my nephews are a bit bigger energy... Mackennas brother just wanted to crack a whip around the horses so I made him go out in the driveway and smack his whip around.... ha!! but Mackenna and Toby strengthened their bond and she is really sticking with the horsey thing... she said that horses are her favorite animals....

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on November 30, 2010 at 1:02pm

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on November 30, 2010 at 2:08pm

Awwww, very cool:) It's really and truly awesome knowing that a young one will grow up with a real respect for our equine friends.. Does my heart good:)

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!!

Permalink Reply by Shirley on November 30, 2010 at 2:23pm

HI Jennifer! I loved your story. Oh, if all kids could get started similar. Nice to see a pretty young girl display a pretty heart.
It's going from 50 today to mid 30's tomorrow. Winter is "temporarily" here. Gotta expect that by early December here in Michigan. Take care and Keep horsen around and sharing.

Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on November 30, 2010 at 4:31pm

Back when my oldest son Joseph was two years old he started wanting to help me with my horse, Hat Tricks. One day I gave in (after checking to see Hat Tricks was relaxed), and I gave Joseph the lead rope and asked him to hold Hat Tricks right there, not to let him walk off. Understand Joseph was early two years old, really short and small, and Hat Tricks was 15.2, Anglo-Arab, and over 1,000 lbs.

After a few minutes Hat Tricks got bored and lifted one leg to start walking off. Joseph first made himself as tall as he could and said WHOA as loud as he could. Hat Tricks looked kindly down at Joe, thought for half a second, and put his foot back down and stood still.

Joseph was SO PROUD. Something much, much bigger than he had obeyed him!

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on November 30, 2010 at 4:35pm

That is such a cool story! Haha! He SHOULD be proud! :D What a good boy.. Both horse and human:)

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on December 1, 2010 at 10:58am

Hi Jackie!! Your son Joseph is very lucky to have been able to be around horses since such a young age.... I started 42 years after him.... :(

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on December 1, 2010 at 12:42pm

Had you always wanted horses, or did that desire develop later?

I've ridden intermittently (sp?) most of my life--never frequently though.. I always managed to get the fiesty ones.. The ones that liked to jump, run toward random sharp objects.. Good times!

Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on December 1, 2010 at 1:07pm

Hi Jennifer!
I am becoming convinced that it does not really matter that much how young you start, if you are willing to learn and willing to listen to your horse, late starters can often do better than people who start off riding early.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on December 2, 2010 at 11:58am

Hi Jackie..... and Megan. I never really had any desire but to have a relationship with a horse..... when I was a girl I read alot of books about horses but actually I was very mystified by them and very intrigued...... accidentally I came across an area real close to where I was living in los angeles that actually allowed horses on large parcels... once I discovered shadow hills I just said to people for about 5 years while my daughter was in her last school years... when alicia graduates I am moving to where the horses are...... and my husband agreed..... well about 8 years ago when I was 42 my husband and I stumbled across an 8 acre ranchette for sale..... it has 2 duplexes on it..... as real estate investors I showed him how the rental income could work out, he wanted to own units, and so we bought this cool place..... I started reading about horses again... but really reading..... for about 2 years.... Horses for Dummies, Horse Breed Books, Medical Books, it seemed so ominous, got all the horse magazines..... horses seemed so fragile..... I was a little scared..... I decided to get a trainer and take a few lessons.... started hanging out with friends and their horses around my neighborhood but actually, never felt very confident... still sort of skitty and scared and hadn't really come across a horse I really liked..... my trainer kept saying, If you could get Toby that would be the horse for you..... somehow Toby miraculously became available..... um, wonder how that happened, ha!! I made arrangements to see the horse and he had a buddy horse that he'd been stabled with for about 3 years that I thought would be my move up horse as the vet was saying Toby was pushing 30 6 years ago and I didn't want a solo horse because I had read that they do better in pairs at minimum.... ...... being that I had committed to the horses and told them I would come back for them, I purchased the two and brought them to my pad Memorial Day Weekend 2004.. My husbands sister had always ridden so I asked her if she'd like to ride the sorrel before I bought him so he could have a person and I bought Toby for myself, the two of them to stay together...

..... everything went wrong for me in my people relationships... my trainer and I parted ways before I bought the horses and right after she introduced me to them.... i went and hung out with them a few times before I brought them home..... LONG story short, my sister in law took and took over the sorrel, moved him and he has since passed away..... but during that time I met Steve who taught me how to ride Toby and when he noticed my SIL taking over the other horse he asked me if I'd like to adopt a mustang orphan and the rest is history...... now 6 years later I have a new trainer, no SIL, 2 fantastic horses and a relationship with both of them... it sort of just happened. :) now I have a nice transition horse and I can learn to ride.... I fear I might not ever gallup or really be a daredevil rider but I was never like that as a kid anyway..... but I have a nice nice super trained trail horse so I really hope to get started now with the whole riding thing.....

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on December 2, 2010 at 12:04pm

I know I put up a lot of pics, but barnmice is a video and picture site so I love it!! :) This is me on my 50th birthday about 2 months ago on my Oliver... :) 5 years of working up to this moment and now I've ridden him 9 times... :) my dream became to ride him bareback and be Stacey Westfall Jr.... that is going to be a fun goal for my horse and I and our future...

Permalink Reply by Shirley on December 2, 2010 at 12:57pm

Is the landscape view your climbing drive? It's very inviting!
I always enjoy pics~~adds another dimension to our personalities via our pc's.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on December 2, 2010 at 1:21pm

Hi Shirley.... being that I live on a hill the entire acreage is from the street to the top.... the view I posted here is a good pic of where my horses live.... they are nestled in the trees there and that trail is where we walk... that trail is the back side property line.....

I love looking at pics and videos too.... :)