Desert Boy Rides a Horse with Uncle Dave

The other afternoon Desert Boy had the chance to go for a horse ride with Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave has tons of experience riding horses and is the perfect teacher. He introduced Desert Boy to his horse, Shelley, and taught Desert Boy how to pet her nicely. Shelley seemed to like Desert Boy, so it was time to head over to one of the feed lot corrals (with soft manure rather than gravel in case of a fall).

Desert Boy had previously drenched his nice sneakers by stepping into a stream (on purpose), so he was riding barefoot. He was eager to get on and listened carefully to Uncle Dave's instructions.

Some of the feed lot pens have cows in them, so Desert Boy got a nice high view of them. Desert Boy can't quite say "Mooo," but he can say "Mmmm." The border collie following Shelley is Heidi, the trusty dog who knows how to move cattle much better than I ever will. (Henry stayed by me--he just goes up to the cows and barks and doesn't know how to do anything more than that.)

Desert Boy seemed right at home on the horse, and didn't want to stop riding. It won't be that long until he can start helping.

The view of mountains in the background and the cooler temperatures of a late summer afternoon made for a great experience. It's nice to know that Desert Boy has more interests than Vroom, vroom machines and climbing.