Homeschool Gym aka Horseback Riding Lessons

This month finds us spending our Fridays at River Valley Ranch taking a homeschool riding class. The Boy has been stretching himself, choosing new things to try, and riding lessons are one of those things he's been wanting to experience. Through one of the e-lists we belong to (Social Home Educators of York) we found a homeschool riding class that fit into our crazy schedule.

Yesterday we drove over to the Ranch ( a 50 minute drive through Southwestern PA's beautiful farmland) and so began lessons. 

The Boy was a bit anxious for the class to start; he's a high strung little boy. "What if this isn't our class?" "What time does it start?" "Why are we so early?" But a few hugs and reassurances later, he started to relax. 

We traipsed around to the barn entrance, stopping to admire each horse. We watched the horses in their paddock for a moment, then entered the large horse barn/arena. Whoooey it was cold! The wind whipped right through the "lobby," but we found a cozy corner next to the tack room to get out of the chill. 


Looking around, I noticed that it was going to be a class full of girls, with just a sprinkling of boys. Not a big deal, just an observation. It seems to me that girls tend to go through a "horse phase" sometime between 8 and 10 years old. That's about the average age for these girls, too. For our son, it's not so much about the horse, but about the riding!


The instructor, Morgan, had them up on the horses immediately. The Boy seemed so happy and confident. It was great to see him smile and handle his horse as well as he did.