This girl can ride horses

A little girl riding a horse may not sound like a big deal.  Lots of little girls ride horses but if I am completely honest, I never, ever expected my daughter to.  She suffers from a crippling fear of animals.  It started when she was a toddler and at the time, I didn’t think much of it as I assumed she would grow out of it. I was wrong.

As the years have passed, it has become worse and worse.  Dogs are the main problem, we have to cross roads to get away from them on a daily basis but all animals are an issue.  A trip to a zoo or a farm park are pretty much A’s worst nightmare and if she goes anywhere for the first time, we have to have the ‘animal discussion.’  I worry about it a lot and hope that it is something that she will grow out of as it is debilitating for her at times and it can make family life a challenge whenever we are anywhere where there are or might be animals.

So you can imagine my surprise when last year, she asked to ride a pony.  I did a double take.  We were at a local farm park and it was a slow walk up and down the field, so thinking that it would be good for her, we gave it a go.  It was a cute little pony and we had a few issues getting her on as every time the horse turned to look at her, she was terrified.  After some cajoling, she was on and off she went as happy as larry.

This was a big thing for a little girl who was so afraid of horses.  She talked about it for weeks after and was suitably proud of herself.  Ever since she has done a couple more pony rides and recently she has talked about having riding lessons.  Luckily, a friend recommended a local centre where the lessons were not too expensive and this Saturday we had our first lesson.  A was beyond excited.  It was wet and windy, a totally dismal day, but that did not put her off.  There were no nerves and she went off to get onto Ruby, her horse for the lesson.

She didn’t want to pat the horse initially and wouldn’t go anywhere near Ruby’s head but she got on and she walked, trotted and beamed for forty-five minutes. It was amazing.  Not only did she ride, she patted the horse which I never imagined she would do.  I was so proud of her and we have a lesson booked for next week and she has a long list of ‘essential riding gear’ that she wants me to buy.  I do really hope that this is the start of something for A, both a new hobby and one that will help her maybe cure her fear of animals.