My grand daughter has been taking horse riding (Dressage) lessons for a little more than three months. She came to see me at work during the first part of August and she was dressed in her boots, and pants and had her helmet (pink), and she looked like she could walk into any arena! I have been trying to go to the stables every other week or so to see her. Diana her teacher doesn't mind at all when Gramma comes, and I have been fascinated at each and every lesson. Myah, does all the preparation for the horse, she rides Satin and Nick and has taken one ride on Libby. They all are or have been show horses, they are beautiful and big and Myah looks even tinier than she is as she leans over and brushes the horse, and prepares him or her for their time in the arena.
Her teacher is inspiring, just the right mixture of push, reaching for exactness, for perfection, and rewarding both rider and horse throughout the lesson.
Yesterday, when I walked into the arena - Myah had started her lesson a little early, but I didn't know that. I walked in and went in to take a look at who was riding - I watched for a few minutes in awe of this little girl with her back stretched out over the horse trotting and stretching, looking like a jockey with head up, perfectly aligned - it was a beautiful sight. I stopped and consciously took a big breath, then went off to find Myah, she was not in the stable -- I walked back to the arena. That beautiful rider was Myah! For the next 45 minutes she and the horsed worked, and worked and worked. She is getting for her teacher's teacher who arrives next week, and she is on the lesson list! Today when Myah and I were together again, we talked about her lesson, she talked matter of factly about how good it felt to be pushed and then to do well. She loves her lessons, she wants to keep riding, and to start baby-sitting both come out in the same breath. She knows when each lesson is, she goes vaulting tomorrow. It is just what she does.
And me, as I watch her, I feel so incredibly present and in the moment, I love watching my grand daughter learn to talk and listen to her horse. It is a wondrous dance these huge horses, my little grand daughter, and their teacher are learning to do. And I am bearing witness as my grand daughter moves into a world that is of her own that may or may not stay with her in the future, but that I am sure she will always appreciate and honor how and what she learned as she day after day rides in the arena of life.
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