~ all kids love horses...

My friend Andrea brought her West Salem Moms of Preschoolers group out to the barn for a field trip, and these are a few of the photos that my friend Jennifer took. It was HILARIOUS to see the kids' reactions and hear some of their questions and comments. I brought out our old man Roanie (age 27!) and he of course was very patient with the kids.

"Well hello, little people!"

The kids' reactions to seeing horse poop was AWESOME. They thought it was totally gross that horses just went wherever, whenever, and that they WALKED in their own poo! 

The kids wanted to see the whole herd, so we cautiously walked down the track to where the horses were grazing on a newly-opened-up pasture. The horses were pretty happy with the grass so I figured none of them would decide to investigate the herd of small humans...

The moms chose this location near the gate to the pasture to get a group photo...

and who leaves the herd and the compelling green grass to come investigate the tiny humans?? Of course, my girl Kaiyah! :)

There was a brief moment of tiny-human nervousness as they saw the approaching horse and ran to the safety of their moms... but Kaiyah was curious (but not pushy), calm, and close enough, so with the moms' guidance I let them slowly step to one side of her and pet her a bit-- leaving a clear path for her to leave if she got uncomfortable or needed to leave. It was very sweet. I'm hoping some of the other moms got some photos of it because I'd love to see them.

This is me showing the kids how to pick out a horse's hoof.

Thank you Jennifer for not including my butt in this shot! :)

Roanie whinnied a few times when we went into the arena, just feeling a little nervous about where his buddies were (he doesn't normally but a fairly traumatic departure of another horse had happened two days before), and it cracked me up when they asked if he was whinnying because he was excited to go for a ride! We doubled up for rides, which helped them feel a little more secure in the saddle, I think, and they got to ride for longer that way. I also gave three of the moms a ride with their kids on board. They were all SO happy and so in love with the horses. 

I grinned a lot that morning.

:)