The Girl Child came off her horse, twice, at her lesson on Wednesday. She had the wind knocked out of her the second time, landing on her back. This was what her instructor wrote to us that evening:

"So, poor GC had a tough day today... She seemed a little upset, but physically ok. The horse was FRESH! I chased him before the lesson (to get the bugs out) and apparently that wasn't enough, so I had a big kid get on him and haul him around, but he figured the GC out and got her off twice! But I have to say, I explained specifically what to do, and told her to get mad at him and be tough and she did, she is a tough little kid and she totally listened to me and did what I said and she stayed on every time he tried after that. I just wanted to let you know what happened. Let me know how she is feeling tomorrow."

What she doesn't mention is that the GC got back on the horse, after getting the wind knocked out of her, and successfully cantered that same horse and jumped him, too. Pretty gutsy.

But she was upset on Thursday morning. She didn't want to go to school. So, I told my wife to please buy a cake so we could have a small celebration last night, to celebrate her first fall, which we did. We told the GC how proud we were of her for finally falling and for getting right back up. We told her that she was officially a rider now.

Later, I asked her why she didn't want to go to school and this is the conversation we had:

GC: Because I was afraid I was going to get teased for falling off the horse.

Me: By whom?

GC: People.

Me: That is a ridiculous answer. Who else could tease you, chairs? That tells me nothing. Of course it would be people. Which people?

GC: I don't know. Just people.

Me: Well, do these un-named people ride?

GC: No.

Me: So, they are not entitled to have an opinion are they?

GC: What do you mean?

Me: Well, if they can't ride, how do they know anything about what it means to fall off a horse.

GC: Oh. Yeah.

Me: In fact, if any of them does tease you, you can say: "Do you ride? No? Well, if I need an opinion about riding I will go ask someone who rides. If I need an opinion from a doofus, I will come right back to you."

GC: [Laughing] I can call them a doofus?

Me: You bet. Now, did anyone tease you today?

GC: Nope.

I thought my wife was going to smack me for this but she actually told me that she thought I handled that pretty well. I worry that her staying home full time is destroying her judgment.

I am curious to see how things go at the next riding lesson, on Sunday.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:50 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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