Ever since we visited the Kentucky Horse Park, Henry has been in love with horses. In fact, as we were leaving the Horse Park back in September, Henry asked when we were going to get to ride the horses. Unfortunately, Mommy didn't have the energy to go back for that experience at that point, so he had to wait 2 months before getting his chance. And, oh, how exciting it was when that day finally came!
Henry's godmother, Miss Jan, got us free tickets to the Horse Expo at the Suburban Collection Showplace. There were lots of interesting things to explore - merchandise from toys to clothes to fancy horse trailers (these were fun to climb in).
Henry first found a wooden horse to ride. He went back repeatedly to this horse!
Then he found the real pony rides! He was thrilled... but after Miss Jan bought him a ticket, he had second thoughts and when it was his turn to be in the front of the line, he backed out. Jan had to go back to the ticket sellers and get her money back. However, then we saw one of Jan's Japanese friends from class with her little boy. Seeing that little Japanese boy take a turn on the horse gave Henry new courage. He said he wanted to try again and Miss Jan patiently re-bought the ticket. Henry was quite nervous, but he let Miss Jan lift him up.
After getting his photo on the horse, Henry was ready to get down. But Miss Jan convinced him to let the horse take him for a short walk.
He agreed, as long as she would stay right next to him. In fact, he insisted on keeping his arm on her.
All the way around the ring, he held tight to Jan's neck.
In the end, he was leaning on her, putting more weight on Jan than the horse!
But he did it! He bravely conquered that fear and rode the horse! (And what would we do without Miss Jan?!)
Meanwhile, Helen enjoyed seeing some of the other animals.
After talking over the glories of his trip around the ring and reminiscing about how brave he was, Henry told Miss Jan he wanted to do it again, and she generously obliged.
This time, he valiantly declared he could do it without Miss Jan's help. And he did!
In fact, he ended up riding the horse twice more.
It was an event that made a huge impression on him and he talked about for months. In fact, he stopped saying to Miss Jan, "Remember when we we got in the car accident and got chocolate milk?" Instead, he repeatedly reminded her, "Remember when I rode Stormy the horse?"
We also watched a horse show demonstration.
And Helen enjoyed just walking around in her squeaky shoes, which garnered a bit of attention from the crowd (as they usually do wherever she wears them).
Oh, what a splendid day for Henry and his buddy Miss Jan, both horse lovers!
No comments:
Post a Comment