I love morning walks with the kids in the fall, when we take Smokey out to get his exercise in our neighborhood. My favorite is the walk we do to an adjacent neighborhood called Rock Meadows. The homes are all on big spreads with pastures for horses, and there is a central equestrian area. Sometimes, if we are lucky, we get to watch equestrian practice. The kids love watching the horses learn how to jump.
Last week we got a close up view. The kids learned that "ho" means "stop" to horses, and that "hi" sounds just like "ho". So they learned to wave at the horses each time they ran by, instead of saying hi. They also learned that horses get jittery around sudden movements, but they don't mind little kids yelling and screaming. They did not learn these last two facts by trial and error, thankfully! One of the participants in the equestrian practice was kind enough to teach them these items.
Maybe the kids can get a summer job some day working with the horses. They like the idea of brushing the horses and feeding them apples... but not so excited about the "mucking" part!
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