Maria's New Best Friend, Chloe

Today I found myself in a very foreign environment. A place where I knew none of the vocabulary, none of the equipment, and not one clue as what was going on around me. Where is a soccer field when I need one?

This is where we were:

A horse barn! Stable? Hallway? Whatever.

At least one of us knew what was going on:

("Mom, pull it together!")

These are...saddles. I know THAT. Maria says that it is a tack room.

Ummm..Wait. So you are going to leave my child in here alone? With that huge animal? Maria says this is a Grooming Room and the horse is tied to cross ties. What do these words mean? What am I doing? What is she doing? Who's on first?

Those are really big muscles. Could she have picked any BIGGER of an animal to ride? Why didn't she just ask for Elephant lessons? I think I need a ventilator. I can't breathe.

I can't feel my legs. Is there a chair around here?

Now, this freaks me out. She has to clean the horse hooves.What if the horse kicks her? What if the horse leans over and lays down on her?

What if I stop breathing?

Yeah, that horse is big, but her instructor keeps saying that Chloe is a "just a Quarter Horse"
(Maria just told me to capitalize that because "it's a breed mom"). Just? What, is a Clydesdale next?

Does someone have a paper bag?

Gaaaaasp. Wheeze.

Okay, this was intense for me. The horse is jogging...going fast...wait. Let me get my horse thesaurus.

Trotting. The horse was trotting and Maria was...wait for it...posting. She had to put her hands on her head and lift her body out of the saddle and squeeze her legs and do all this in a rhythm of some kind. I was getting really sore just watching it all.

I saw another mom and was asking her some questions. After I asked where the pitch was and she stared blankly at me I told her I had no idea what I was doing here. She told me her daughter had been riding for a few years and then out of the blue offered Maria a pair of riding pants (I am sure there is a special word for them) that her daughter just outgrew.

These horse folks are soo nice!

Now if I can just find some smaller horses.

And a respirator.