Words and Photos from Julia M. - Giddy Up! Leadership Through Ranching cohort
This week, my group and I set off on our first expedition day in the horseback riding cohort. After singing along to country music on the bus, our day kicked off with our arrival at Ambleside Farm. We were greeted by our two wonderful instructors Erin and Katie. After we did some introductions, we were split into two groups. One group was starting with riding and the other group was doing farm work. After we broke off, my group, the first group, was taught the basics of tacking up a horse. Between the five of us in our small group, we had two horses. There were so many different steps for getting the horses ready to go but everyone learnt quickly. We saddled up the horses and finally, we were ready to start riding! Erin and Katie were so helpful to everyone learning to ride, especially to those who had never ridden before. We all learnt how to walk and trot with the horse on and off a line. We also learnt posting trot, and how to properly sit and balance on the horse. After we finished riding, we broke for lunch, played with the farm dogs, and enjoyed the beautiful weather until we had to switch activities. We were now onto the less action-packed part of the day; farm work. Our jobs were mostly to clean out the paddocks and barn stalls. This part was icky to say the least but, we learnt a lot and being with friends and the animals, made it fun. Before we knew it, our day at the farm was over and we had to head home. Altogether, we all had so much fun, learnt a lot, and just had an awesome time and I know I can’t wait for the next expedition day!