Kids, Horses, and a Pony!

On Friday, I picked Eric up from school, and we went over to Amber's house for our Friday night "horse" fix. We almost always go to Amber's house on Fridays, as that is her one constant day off from work. Because it was STILL raining outside--surprise surprise!!!--we decided to load up the kids and horses, and head back over to the arena. Amber and I decided that we would just let the kids ride for a couple of hours, and boy were they entertaining!!! To keep things interesting, we set up barrels, jumps, and a big jumping post for Eric to rope and drag behind Bo. He thought that he was quite the cowboy, and Bo just pulled like a pro.
Watch out Craig Cameron and Extreme Cowboy competitors...Eric and Bo are getting ready!!!

Sienna and Amber jumping. Waska and Cheyenne approaching a jump.
Eric and Katie as we were getting ready to leave. Katie fhad just fallen off of the trailer's bumper, and had finally quit crying.
Notice her muddy knees and pouty face!
Katie smiling on Sienna.
Cheyenne, Katie and Eric.

Katie and her BIG smile!! Eric and Waska.
Eric roping on Bo.
Eric still roping on Bo.
We had a funny--or not so funny--incident, involving Eric and Bo wildly racing around the arena. Because Bo is so well trained, and used to only be a show horse, Eric has a difficult time getting him to canter; mainly because he cannot ask Bo correctly(due to Eric' size and inexperience). We told Eric to drop the reins around, and to hold on to, the saddle horn. This frees Eric up a little bit and lets him focus on cuing Bo to canter with his legs. We do this all of the time on the lounge line, and never have any problems. Well, Eric wanted to canter around the whole arena, and we figured "why not?" What was the worst thing that could happen in an enclosed arena? Eric dropped his reins and prepared to cue Bo into a canter, just as Cheyenne cantered by on Waska. Bo started cantering, and because he had his head, decided to RACE after Waska. So here was poor Eric, holding on to the saddle horn, while Bo galloped, like a rodeo queen's horse, around the arena. Eric's legs were flapping and urging him on, so Bo just kept on a gallopin'! After three wild laps around the arena, and stopping Cheyenne and Wasksa, Amber raised her arms and yelled "WHOA," and good ole',well trained Bo just stopped. Eric looked like he was about to cry, but he didn't, and he still cantered around on Bo later on; only this time, there was a lounge line attached to Bo! It was one of those funny, but scary, horse moments that sometimes happen. Eric even cantered around on Waska after the incident, so I think that he will be OK. No permanent damage done:)