My Cup Runneth Over

I have always loved that saying. Especially when Bernice Mattise says it in Hope Floats. I get choked up every time. Well, I was certainly choked up with emotion yesterday when I went to Riley's last horse riding lesson. His class at school went to Horses For Healing for 6-weeks and yesterday was the last day. The parents were all invited to come and I opted to drive myself rather than ride another school bus again! :)

When I showed up at the arena, Riley was really happy to see me. I think he was actually a little surprised to see me there. The instructors took the kids three at a time into the arena to ride their horses and Riley was paired with two older boys who spoke a lot. There were 3 people that walked alongside Riley and his horse, Missy. Missy is a 17 year old Arabian Bay and was really beautiful. When Riley wanted Missy to go, he had to say, "Walk on!" When he wanted her to stop, he said, "Whoa!" 

It made me so proud to see Riley riding on Missy. The 3 people that walked with him were very encouraging and talked to Riley a lot. They played some games, like gave Riley a shopping cart and told him to ride Missy over to the barrel and get 3 specific items out of a basket. They also played Simon Says on top of their horses. Riley had the best time and actually did the games very well.

Then, at the end of the lesson, they let the horses trot. Everyone had told me that this was Riley's favorite part by far. They loved seeing him light up and giggling so loud! It was really cute!

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday. It was darker in the arena so some weren't as clear as I had hoped. I also forgot to take the long lens. Live and learn.

We have decided to sign Riley up for the next 6 weeks so hopefully I will have plenty of chances to get more pictures!! :)