Oct 7 2007

Chloe enjoyed her birthday treat of horse riding. After being pushed back a few times due to Chloe’s broken wrist, we finally made it. We arrived and walked through the equestrian centre and met a few horses in their stables. They enjoyed a few strokes and we went to find the reception. Chloe was fitted for a hat and then we waited for her lesson to begin. We walked up to the riding enclosure and waited until they brought the horses up. When they arrived, they asked the children if they knew which horse they would be riding. Chloe was to ride Domino. Turned out that Domino was the largest of the lot and Chloe was the smallest child of them all there! So Instead, Chloe rode Brandy (see photo) and they all began to walk around the room after being told some basics about the stirrups and reins. After a while, they began to teach trotting where the rider must stand up and sit down in the saddle in time wiht the horse.

Chloe was beginning to get the idea near the end of the lesson. When it was finished, Chloe helped to lead Brandy back to the stables and we then went over to the pub for a quick drink before going home. We got in the car and Chloe began crying - she’d had the time of her life and didn’t want it to end. Upon asking her, Chloe passionately said Ice-Cream, Chocolate and not even Sweets are better than Horse Riding. “Nothing is better than Horse Riding”.