Saturday, the kids went out to help Todd cut and split wood and to spend some time with the horse, Beauty. When they came in for lunch, they were excitedly telling me that their Dad had told them that they could probably ride Blueberry (the donkey) by springtime. I wasn't too worried - spring was a long way away. I told them they wouldn't be riding her without working with her and having her carry bags of feed on her back, and on and on and on... I really didn't think there would be much chance of them ever getting on her back. I figured she would balk the first time they tried to put anything on her... Well, I was wrong. I looked out the window after lunch, and there they were, leading her around the yard with a blanket and big chunk of wood on her back. They worked and worked with her and she followed them around like a puppy dog. Oh well, at least I had until spring before I have to worry about them wanting to ride her, I thought. I really wasn't excited at all about them riding her. She is pretty tame and calm, and the kids have been leaning across her and "almost" getting on her back for quite a while now, but we have no idea what kind of training or breaking in she has had.
Anyway, I headed out to Wal-mart and pretty soon the phone rang. It was Todd, letting me know that Laura had been up on the donkey's back for about 1/2 hour... I asked him what had happened to the "wait until spring..." He just laughed.
When I got home, they of course were all clamoring to tell me all about it. "Well, we just put Emily on her first because we figured we could grab her off if the donkey started to run away." "We put the horse's bit in her mouth - I don't think it fits her very well, it kept falling out..." "She did fine, she only minded right at first and then we could lead her all over with no problem..." And they wonder why my hair is turning grey!
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I like their strategy of sacrificing the small child first:) Wait until the boys get going!
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