Okay. Maybe not the best title, but that's the reality of my life.
I have kids, they're involved in your not so ordinary after school activities. Our son shot on a competitive shooting team for several years. Fortunately, he is out of school, working, and for the most part self-sufficient. That leaves me with our 12-year-old daughter. Things should be pretty tame at this point, right?! Not so much.
This is where things get interesting....she loves horses. She has been riding off and on since she was almost seven. Since the beginning, she has been competing in mainly barrel racing and pole bending. The one pony she rode was a real star at key-hole and they placed 9th place in the state that year in 4-H. Needless to say, I have been to more than one rodeo. I still don't wear the jeans with the bling on the butt and no I do not wear cowboy boots. They just look painful.
Here is the challenge, my husband and I are not horse people. He rode one once to impress a girl and fell off. I grew up around them, however, just cleaned stalls and stared at them in the pasture. I've ridden a hand full of times only to realize your butt hurts in places you didn't know you had a butt. I want the make and model that doesn't move he wants one that doesn't poop. Given our background, you would think that would be the other way around?!
Our daughter wanted the one that goes fast. Several weeks ago she got her wish. His name is Cruiser and he is a lean mean running machine that is terrified of his reflection, lawnchairs, cows, plastic bags, butterflies, and his fly mask. We obviously - I mean the 12-year-old - has her work cut out for her.
With all their issues they need to work out, she couldn't be happier. This has taken us a long time to get to this point and has not come without a lot of worrying, planning, and help from some great friends.
Do I talk dirty a lot? Yes. In fact and much to the 12-year-olds chagrin, I can talk dirty even at the barn. Maybe, I'll talk about that next.
But lately, it's been all about the horse.
