Prepping for a Visit

My oldest daughter and the grandchildren are coming for a visit in July. There was a baby shower scheduled for my daughter who is pregnant with triplets. The baby shower was cancelled due to my pregnant daughter going to be in the hospital at that time, and stay until the triplets are born.

My oldest daughter is coming for a visit. She will stay with me and we will visit the pregnant mother. The grandchildren will stay at our house and be watched by my husband.

Since she and her children have not been here before, I am overly excited. I want everything to be perfect. But in truth, I will not accomplish perfect, but things will be nice.

One request from my daughter is to teach her daughters how to ride a horse. They have ridden horses used for dude rides, but never a finished horse. A finished horse does maneuvers simply by turning your head in the direction you want to go. When watching an experienced rider and a finished horse perform, it looks like the horse reads the rider’s mind. They move as one, and perform some wonderful maneuvers. I have trained one of my horses to be very light and finished. This horse is also a very good children’s mount and teacher. What some call in the horse world, a “horse master”.

When I was training horses and teaching riding lessons, my children were learning beside me. They became very good riders, and those who wanted to train, learned the skills to train a horse to be a partner, not a servant. I hoped that my children would pass the skills on to their children, but none of them have horses or desire to be horse trainers.

I will be able to share with my granddaughters the love of the horse and how to ride as a partner, one with the horse in body and mind.

I am cleaning the tack, riding one horse whos training is not complete, hoping to have her training to where the young girls can ride her. Busy getting the spare bedrooms ready. I will have to set up a crib for the two year old, as he still sleeps in a crib. Meal planning and activity plans.

The activity plans are for my husband for when he has the three grandchildren, while my daughter and I are at the hospital visiting. My husband does not think of games or activities for inside very much. He is an outdoors type person, playing catch, going fishing, or just messing around. Since it is going to be hot during the midday, he needs options ready for him.

Besides horseback riding we will go fishing. The grandchildren have heard from their cousin and seen pictures of big catfish to catch. They want to try to meet or beat his record. The tack needs to be resupplied from the visit with my grandson.

Since it is hot during summertime days, there will be games to be played inside where it is cool. Hopefully, I can get our famous swimming pool ready….the six foot across horse trough.

The sheep will start having lambs a week before they arrive. A busy time for me. All my regular work, lambing and preparing for a week long visit.

The grandchildren are excited, horses, sheep and lambs, puppies and dogs, fishing and who knows what else they think they might do here. I want to be ready to meet those young and ambitious expectations.

amtolle