This Sunday, we were blessed with beautiful weather, wonderful animals and fantastic women. Two lovely ladies from Lighthouse Care Center brought six girls to the barn. We were graced by the presence of several volunteers from diverse backgrounds.
As always, we are beyond grateful for the support we receive from our volunteers. The diversity of our volunteers provides our riders different people from whom to connect. We are so happy to have formed a connection with the Beta Club at Carolina Forest High School. These young girls act as peer mentors for our riders. We appreciate them sharing their time with us!
The girls are beginning to make progress in their riding skills. It has been fun to watch some of these ladies, who at one time were scared to even brush a horse, but are now trotting independently. As always, Maya is a great learning tool. What better way to teach leadership and communication than through a sometimes stubborn mare? I always tell our riders that we need to communicate through our bodies, with good posture and confidence and that horses and humans will take us more seriously when we do. It makes me laugh when our riders have the "ah-ha" moment and realize that sometimes in life they are the stubborn mare!
It was really exciting for me to see the willingness of our riders to give back. Today, not only did they get to participate by riding, we also had some tasks for them to do at the barn. They got to see what it takes to care for our animals. The girls put in some hard work and dug some holes for fence posts for a new pen for barn favorites, Rosie and Schooner. It is because of our volunteers and role models that they were able to see that woman can accomplish these labored tasks. Next time they are with us, they will be able to witness what their hard work was for.
It always makes me smile that we have to practically drag the kids out of the barn. It tells me that we have created a positive environment and that our horses are part of the healing process!
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