Horseplay

This last month has been incredibly busy. We have put over 2,000 miles on our car in the last three weeks. We've been all over the Great Lakes area and have had some interesting experiences including a flat tire on the highway at 11:30 pm, an nice overnight stay in a hotel, meeting new friends, books on CD, lots of fast food, a fantastic upscale dinner and the coolest experience with horses ever.

While we were visiting our church friends in Traverse City, MI, we were treated to a wonderful experience at the Casa del Sol horse farm run by Marc and Kaye Mently. What a treat! They specialize in something called "natural horsemanship." I'm not going to do it justice in my explanation but it basically means learning to ride and communicate with the horse without talking or using the typical horse gear such as a saddle, bridle etc. You and the horse are supposed to know what to do based on your body language. It was incredible to see how this actually works with horses and riders that are trained in this way.

Marc and Kaye were such gracious hosts. They heard how much Chloe loved horses so they were excited to see her experience their horses in this way. I was amazed at how well Chloe did, but mostly I was touched by seeing her smiling from ear to ear the ENTIRE time. It was as if she just couldn't stop. I'll remember that part always.

Getting ready for the ride!



On her own. Learning to sit up straight and relax her legs.


Can't stop smiling!





A big exhale is all it takes to make Bella stop.

Practicing her airplane moves.


Hopefully we'll get to experience this again, but if not, we're so thankful to have had the opportunity to see these amazing animals in such a cool setting!