There has been a lot of sports coverage lately on the blog. But fear not, Miss Fiona Grace Vanneste has been keeping an equally busy schedule. Back in March (February?), Mike got an email about horseback riding lessons through the Y. We asked Fiona and [unsurprisingly] she was all in. So a few days later, I went to sign her up ... only to find out everything was full. Turns out, horseback riding lessons are very popular and you have to register immediately. Fiona was a really good sport about it, but we could tell she was so disappointed. I was able to put her on a waitlist and we crossed our fingers. [I felt so terrible. The
one thing she was excited about. Mental note to always sign up quickly for horse lessons!]
We heard nothing for weeks and figured it was a no go. Then out of the blue, I got an email asking a bunch of questions about her riding experience and availability. I responded with the answers and asked if that meant we were no longer on the waitlist. Crickets. We were trying not to get Fiona's hopes up, but were also trying to keep them up. Such a tricky tap dance ... Then when we were in GR over Easter, I received the official email that she was IN. We were sitting on the couch watching morning cartoons when I saw it, so I leaned over and whispered the news in her ear .. and then was rewarded with the biggest smile ever.
For the past five Wednesday, Fiona has been living her very best life at Camp Kici as she learns the basics of horse riding. She is so very happy and can't wait to go back each week. She started riding Lily and loved her. Lily made F feel successful immediately and was a very responsive horse. But apparently Lily is old and has some hip issues, so week 3, Fiona rode Hershey - and did not like that he did not respond to commands. So the last couple weeks, she's been riding Dusty, who is much better at following her lead.
Declan and I got to bring her this last week and were able to go down to the stable with her at the end of class. My favorite part was watching her confidence around the horses. She is totally in her element and beyond joyful. She truly enjoyed getting to show her little brother around the stable, being the expert and sharing something she loves. She even let Dec help her feed Dusty an apple and taught him how to pet the horses' faces. Little Dude was pretty nervous, but listened attentively to Fiona and was rewarded with a nose rub from Dusty.
