The time I went horse riding.

As lame as this may seem.. I wish I was a cowgirl. A McLeod's daughter. A true country bumpkin. I even wanted to wear cowgirl boots to my formal, much to the dismay of my friends who eventually talked me out of it. My favourite animals are cows and every time we drive out to my grandparents I dream of what it would be like to live in the country.

My sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law granted a long time wish of mine when they gave me a horse ride for my 18th birthday. They had planned it well but unfortunately, the horse injured itself on the day of the big ride and I missed out. They kept promising me it would happen we just had to wait for everyone to be available, and the horse not to be injured… and time just eventually went by.

I was kind of thinking I would never get to ride. But then some lovely church friends of mine (Ron and Sookie) found out about my desire for a ride and organised a trip. Now Ron is a real live cowboy. He rides horses in cutting competitions and has won a lot of money with his horse Leroy. Ron and Sookie have a farm out Kenilworth way (which is where I went on my actual birthday) with Bison and horses and a country style house. And they own a couple of horses specifically trained to compete in cutting competitions and they live on a training farm out past Murgon.

The family who live on that farm are true country people, real abrupt at times but so nice and genuine. And not only do they train horses to cut, they train people to ride. Pretty perfect huh?

So off I went on my adventure. With a cutting demonstration thrown in for good measure.

Watching a cutting demonstration.

My favourite animals in the whole world!

Oh how I wish these belonged to me!

Watching to make sure I won’t look like an idiot when I try to get on. It’s kind of lucky this photo was taken from this side of the horse, because around on my side… Courtney was giving me a push to get on! Don’t worry I got better at mounting as we went on.

Can’t wipe that smile of my face! Riding along.

Not only did I walk. I trotted. And cantered. AND did some cutting training! Basically, I sat on the horse while it chased a mechanical cow at high speeds. And had an absolute ball.

After riding we went up to the house and had some lunch. I traded my horse lesson for a bit of a singing show and now they all want me to go on the show trail with them to sing!

I had the best fun and I can’t wait to do it again.