She tossed back her blond hair as she stood in the windy ring. Staring down at her brown boots, she thought about the pair of expensive cowboy boots she wanted. They were gleaming black with inlaid patterns in aqua blue. She smiled as she thought about all the kids making jokes about wanting the fanciest boots. All they could afford were another brand, less expensive but not bad looking.
At the gate were Eric and his mother. He couldn’t wait for his riding lesson to start. He walked over to her and she put the horse’s reins over his head. She walked to the left side of the horse with little Eric. He listened to every word she said as she helped him mount up. They proceeded to walk around the ring.
Eric’s mother watched from the gate. The blond turned and waved hello. Then she gave Eric her full attention for the next half hour. He learned to hold the reins in his left hand. She taught him how to neck rein and turn the horse using the reins. He tried it several times before he felt confident.
The first day his mother brought him out to the stables to sign up for riding lessons they had a friendly chat as Eric went over to look at the horses. She mentioned that she wanted to get into riding too. She thought thought that would be how to lose tummy fat, by bouncing along on a horse. The pretty blond girl laughed and said she didn’t see any reason for the young mother to lose weight.
They scheduled a series of six riding lessons for Eric and signed for the credit card. They planned on riding the bridle paths together after the lessons were over. They could then go out on the bridle paths where you could ride unconfined by fences. There was a one hour or two hour trail ride.
Each trail ride included a canter into the rest stop and a brief five minutes sitting on the grass. The horses would not run away with young riders since they were used to stopping in the rest area.
They could dismount and let the horses graze as they sat on the grass. She always had everyone pull the reins over the horses’ heads and hold the reins. They all enjoy the few minutes talking about the horses and the fun of riding them.
Six weeks later, Eric had successfully completed six lessons. He now could mount up by himself. He knew how to manipulate the reins to turn the gentle little pinto. He could move the reins as a signal to go and pull back saying whoa as a signal to stop. He loved riding and his confidence was high. Next week they would hit the trail and see if this was how to reduce tummy fat.