Horsin' Around!

Silly me, I was about to make a post about some things we did with Moppy over the weekend and I forgot I still had one more post to do from Grandma's house!

One of our favorite things about Grandma's house are the horses. Grandma has four horses: Chance (who is the one with Moppy in the photos above), Charm, Chase, and Tala.

Here is Moppy petting Chase. Can you tell he likes that? He's an old horse who can't really be ridden anymore, but everyone loves him.

Moppy is watching Audrey get ready for a riding lesson with Grandma. Audrey is riding Tala.

Audrey actually came to Grandma's house a few days earlier for a special "horse camp" with Grandma. She got all kinds of lessons about horses, and learned about how to take care of them and how to ride them. As you can tell from the smile on her face, she LOVES riding! I love riding too- I even competed in horseback riding when I was in college!

See that black mask on Tala's face? It's a fly mask- it helps keep those buzzing flies away from her face. Sometimes I wish I had a fly mask when I'm outside!

Here are Chance, Charm, and Chase hanging out in their stalls in the barn. Most of the time they are out in the field grazing, but they had just finished breakfast and were waiting to go out. See how each horse has their own fan to keep them cool? Grandma takes excellent care of her horses.

And her horses love her, too! Here's Tala giving Grandma some love. Grandma just finished giving Tala a quick bath to cool her down after the riding lesson. That green thing in her hand is a special tool used to squeegee the water off the horse. If a horse gets too wet and isn't dried properly, they can catch a cold!

The little girls had a chance to ride, too. Here is Christine riding Charm. Charm is also getting old, but she is still up for giving some pony rides. Here's a fun fact: Charm's full name is "Charm My Heart", and she is actually the granddaughter of the famous racehorse, Secretariat! They even made a movie about him!

Also, Charm and I were pregnant at the same time. I was pregnant with Christine, and Charm was pregnant with her foal, Bear.

Here's Charlotte after her ride on Charm. I think Charm enjoys giving the little ones rides. :-)

This is a picture that Grandma has in her house, and we told Moppy that she can be a Virginian by adoption. She was very happy about that. She seems to like Virginia!

Moppy relaxes in a rocking chair on Grandma's front porch. There's nothing like a relaxing summer day on a farm in Virginia!