Horseback Riding with the Girl Scouts

At the end of every school year, Lia's Girl Scout troop is able to participate in one or two big activities that is paid for 100% by the money they earn for their troop through their cookie sales.  The more boxes the girls sell, the more money they get kicked back to their troop to spend on something fun.  Over the years, Lia has been able to participate in some wonderful activities from eating lunch at the American Girl Bistro (and picking out two outfits for her doll), participating in an overnight GS encamporee, and staying at the Great Wolf Lodge.  This year, Lia's troop decided to use their cookie money to go to a horseback riding farm for the afternoon.  After waiting for over a month for one of Lia's new troop leaders to organize it (who has turned out to be a total disappointment this school year), I decided to take over and plan the entire thing.  I figured that the girls worked too hard selling cookies to let this money go to waste.  As a result, I called around to several horse farms a month ago and found one in Graham that was available to host the troop today for the entire afternoon.  The girls were so excited!  The owner also agreed to help the girls complete all of the necessary steps for them to earn their GS horseback riding badge.  As a result, they got to feed the horses, brush the horses, learn about horse tack, the different kinds of horses, and all of the body parts, etc in addition to riding them.  Overall, it was a total success and the girls had a great time!

The girls got a tour when we first arrived at the farm.  Here they are learning about the different kinds of horses found at the farm.

The adorable, 3-month old horse and his mother.

Learning about more types of horses in another area of the farm.

Lia and her friend, Lilah, learning about the difference between Western and English saddles.

Ride 'em, cowgirl!

Lia and Lilah getting ready to brush a miniature horse.

Lia brushing away.

Cheese!

The teenagers in charge divided the girls into two groups when it came time to ride the horses.  Lia was in the second group with Lilah, Eva, and Kaydence.  Here they are watching the other girls ride their horses in the corral.

Lia climbing onto her horse named Diva.

And, she's off.  Lia got to spend several minutes riding around the corral with the help of one of the teenagers named Jewel.

Lia walking her horse.  She was so excited to do this!  If Lia had her way, she would either be a mermaid living in the sea or a girl living on a farm where she could ride a horse every day.

Lia and Lilah walking their horses side by side.

Smiling at mom!

After all eight girls had a chance to ride a horse, we were able to sit on the side of the corral and watch the teenagers ride the horses for several minutes.  It was really cool to watch them take charge of these horses and trot and canter with them.  Here is a group shot we managed to get with all of the girls, the teenagers, and the horses at the end of the afternoon.