Horseback Riding

For Lyla’s birthday this year, the one thing she really wanted to do was go horseback riding.  I looked into several places, but had been recommended to try the Marriott Ranch in Hume, VA by both my mom and a friend from the neighborhood.  Both had heard of people going there and having a great experience, so it seemed like a good fit for us.  Lyla’s birthday was a month ago, but the trail rides didn’t begin until April, so originally we were scheduled to go on Friday of this past week.  Unfortunately though, Lyla had come down with the stomach bug last Sunday and really wan’t better until midway through the day on Wednesday.  Between wanting to give her another day to get her strength back and cold/windy weather that was forecasted for Friday, we changed our reservation to Saturday, and I’m so glad we did.  We had a sunny, beautiful day for our ride!

We picked up Mouse on our way out, and made the lovely drive out to Hume, VA where the ranch is located at.  We fitted ourselves with helmets then waited on the back deck while the horses got ready.

 

Lyla was just a tad bit excited!

The ranch guides knew we were there for her birthday and were kind enough to let her pick out the color horse she had her eye on.  Lyla rode Tinker, Nina rode Beau Beau, Mouse rode Tickle, and I rode Rusty.  All the horses were very nice and tame, but I was still surprised that they didn’t keep Nina and Lyla’s horse on a lead.  They told them how to ride and just let them do it. Both girls did a fantastic job!

  

  

The ride through the ranch was amazing.  The ranch itself is over 4,200 acres, and our ride was 1.5 hours through fields, the woods, through streams, up and down hills, over a log, and we even passed a longhorn bull on our way through Paradise Pasture.  The horses are accustomed to walking in a line, and they did that well, but we all had some laughs at little quirks of the horses.  Mine always tried to stop and snack on bushes, Lyla’s would want to walk really close up against trees and shrubs in order to walk on the softest part of the path forcing Lyla to dogde a few branches, and Nina’s horse wanted to cut the line in front of my horse (much to Rusty’s annoyance), and Mouse said her horse was as sweet as could be.  We all had such a great time.  I wish I could have taken pictures on the ride, but I could only bring my camera phone in my pocket, and riding a horse while snapping pictures with my cell phone isn’t really conducive!  :)  

 

However, we had such a wonderful experience, and it was perfect for Lyla.  We didn’t even get a chance to get our helmets off at the end of the ride before she was asking when we could go again.  I don’t think this love of horses is going away any time soon.  So, I’m really thrilled that she got this experience!