Getting over fear

For the past 4 weeks I have been riding horses with my friend Melanie. We ride her and her dad's horses, Ruby and Dakota. Ruby is 6 and Dakota is 14.  Melanie has had many experiences with Dakota that have made her very scared to ride a horse. Since the first time I rode with her she has been making a lot of progress. The first time, She wouldn't even consider trotting. Now, this week she has been loping as much as possible. Last week we went to the arena at the Lincoln county fair grounds. We had tons of fun and that is where I got her to lope. Here are some videos that she recorded of me loping on Dakota.

 The guy on the other horse is Melanie's dad. He is riding Ruby.

I discovered I can lope without my hand on the horn!






 

Lving in Star Valley, Wyoming.

I was born and have been raised right here in Afton, Star Valley. It is a very wonderful place to live! It is a small town but that's just how I like it. I would not like to live in a big city. In Afton, there aren't any Walmarts, or JC penny's, or any big shopping stores like that. We don't have any hotels, or casinos. I like it like that. I also like the fact that we have long winters here. I don't like having hot days. I would rather be on a snow machine in the snow, than on a beach in Hawaii.

I also like living here because it's not hard to find a horse. There are horses everywhere! I have loved horses for as long as I can remember.  I have many friends who have horses. I ride at least once a week. This week I rode a horse named Ruby. While I was riding her she bolted, reared, and bucked.

Wyoming is a very beautiful place. Here in Afton we have the largest intermittent  spring in the world. My dad told me that when he was a little boy, he and his brothers would jump into where the water comes out of the mountain when it would stop and they would get crystals and get back out before it started again. It is very beautiful to hike up to and see.  

We have mountains here. Many of them. They make a bowl around us. I think of it as a wall of protection. Protection from tornadoes, and other storms.

Some of my family on a mountain with the valley behind us. 

Fields of hay bales just as you are coming into Auburn. 

I took this just as we were coming out of Thayne. 

My house during the winter!