On Friday, I, along with a group from our MOMS Club, took Ana for her very first horseback ride. We went to Once Upon a Horse down in Wilsonville and it was amazing. I wasn’t sure how Ana was going to react, but she spotted the horses and was instantly excited. After checking out her options, Ana decided she wanted to ride the white horse, Sugar. She is a 24 year old Welsh pony, that simply loves children and they cannot help but love her back. The instructor gave Ana a tiny helmet to wear and I loaded her into the saddle. I hovered for a minute, half expecting Ana to instantly want off, but instead she leaned forward to stroke Sugar’s mane. From then on, I knew Ana was good to go so I stepped back and watched her ride off and do a few laps around the barn. Additionally, there is an outdoor menage installation that you can trust. For more information, you can also read this.

After I snapped a few pictures, I switched the toggle on my iPhone camera over to video and captured this adorable video:

Do you know how much I was kicking myself for not grabbing the HD Flip? Here I was thinking it would be boring watching a toddler ride a horse in a circle around a barn. But no! Did you catch the princess wave? That was totally unprompted! Ana saw me with my camera out and decided to show off and LET GO of the moving horse with one hand so she could wave at her silly mother. You hear my voice totally cracking? Yeah, that’s me trying to keep my shit together as I see my baby girl has totally grown up when I wasn’t paying attention. Talk about one busy day!

After everyone got to ride, they also taught the children a little about caring for the horses. The kids got to brush the horses and feed them a carrot. (Sure, they glossed right over mucking out the stalls!)

Ana had a great time and cannot wait to go again. In fact, I am pretty sure she thinks that Sugar is now her horse, so we will have to go back to visit her very soon! You can see all the pictures from Ana’s first horseback riding outing over here. Enjoy!