If your child is a horse girl, you can't just change that. It is a kind of love that cannot be stopped. Whether you got it from your parents or not, it doesn't matter… you're a horse girl or you're not. One of our guest bloggers describes how her girl's love for horses blossoms.
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I can no longer ignore it:my daughter is a horse girl. Not purebred, you need two horse-loving parents for that. And both my husband and I have nothing to do with horses. Until recently, that is, because now I am enthusiastically and diligently cleaning horses at the riding school every week.
And I have to admit, it's pretty fun. Not that I want to go horseback riding now! No, far from it. My husband also has no ambitions in that direction, despite his very suitable bow-legs. But we do enjoy it. The happy face of our girl when she steps out of the door with her riding cap, the stories after every riding lesson, the endless playing with horses (small and large); everything about her confirms to us that she is really having a good time. And nothing is more important than that.
Earlier our horse girl was on hockey † A nice team with famous girls. And a nice coach (me). The first matches she was enthusiastic. Because yes, after a year of playing hockey, she now started playing against other clubs. The real deal. But in October I already felt a change. It's that you can't pick flowers on artificial grass, otherwise she would have done it full of fervor. The surprise was therefore not very great when she indicated just after the autumn holidays that she no longer really liked hockey. She was disappointed with that competition. She preferred, you guessed it, horseback riding.
I myself was brought up with the idea that you finish what you start. A life lesson that I want to pass on to my children. So we came to a compromise. She would finish the season (sports for kids in a team run for a whole season) and after that our horse girl would be allowed to go horseback riding.
It went well until the Christmas break. If she grumbled, all I had to do was remind her of our meeting. The winter was cold and long, many training sessions and competitions were cancelled. Cat in the cup for her, but it became all the more difficult for me to motivate her after the winter break.
The further the season progressed, the greater the frustration. With her but also with me. I was on the field as a coach. I couldn't do anything if she didn't want to go out in the field anymore. Angry sat down between the fields. Or out of sheer frustration she stood crying on the edge of the field. I felt powerless. As much as I enjoyed being on the field with the girls, that's how the fun went for me too. But hey, a deal is a deal. And finishing is not stopping halfway…
Until one of the mothers came up to me and asked me right away for whom I wanted to keep this puppet show full. Stop it, she strongly advised me, if your child is a horse girl, let her do what makes her happy. Then things went fast:canceled hockey and transferred my duties as coach. It feels like a relief and not like failure. After all, she kept her promise for another six months, really on her gums. Quite an achievement for a child of seven.
On her birthday she received riding lessons, a subscription to the Penny and a complete outfit, including the cap, pants and riding gloves. So now she rides a horse. With only one complaint:the classes are 'only' once a week and are far too short. It does her good, our shy babe. She becomes confident. We just picked her up from her first pony camp. Never thought she would dare to leave home for a whole weekend! But her desire for horses was greater than her fear of the unknown. And I? I am proud of her and very happy that she has found her place.
