Ridin' the Range

Cooper had his first pony riding experience the yesterday. There's a tent set up about 5 minutes from our house that offers pony riding and goat petting. We drive by it all the time and usually make an effort to wave to the horsies as we zip by. Well, the tent moved a block down the road to a better location. They moved right next door to the farmers market. HeeHaw!!! I decided we'd check out the farmers market and Coop noticed the pony tent right away. I asked him if he wanted to say hi to the ponies and he pretty much took off right towards them. Enough of just saying hello to the ponies!!!! Let's RIDE 'EM (or so I thought).

As we approached the mini coral, Cooper announced his arrival in his normal fashion...."Hi Horsies, I Cuckoo". Of course, I smiled and looked at the guys running the show hoping they didn't notice my kid announcing to the horsies that he was cuckoo. That's not exactly the way you want to approach an animal before you hop on their back for a ride. No one seemed to notice.

There were two young teenage Twin Brothers running the show. Let's refer to them as Hee and Haw. They were so sweet and I had to refrain from calling them cowboys like the cowboys in some of Coop's books. They were obliged to take my money and then helped Cooper into the coral to meet the ponies. They introduced Cooper to his little black beauty named, Cody. I tried to play it cool like I knew what I was doing and that it was no big whoop to hop on a horse. Cooper wanted me to hop on first and I told him Big Mama was waaaaay too big and might hurt poor Cody's back (an understatement). I even caught a glimpse of Hee and Haw's expression as they worried that maybe I truly was going to hop on poor innocent Cody. No worries boys, Big Mama doesn't want to break your horse.

To cut to the chase, Cooper was all about looking at the horsies, petting the horsies and talking to the horsies, but our lilhillbilly wanted nothing to do with riding them. So I thought we'd just hang back and watch the them walk in a circle for awhile. What does a Mom who knows nothing about horsies do when she wants to act cool in front of two teenage cowboys? Draw attention to the horsies going poop of course. Ohhhhhh was that a mistake. Cooper became obsessed with the horsies going poop. Look Mommy, Horsie go poop! And the best part?????? Hee would holler to Haw, to tell him anytime there was a clean up on Horsie #6. Haw would scatter over with his shovel and scoop the poop. Fun times!

I decided we'd taken enough of Hee and Haw's time and thanked them for the "ride". Sweet little Haw (or maybe it was Hee) immediately gave me my money back. I told him to keep it, but he wouldn't have it. He told me we had to get this kid hooked first....so sweet. I decided that we'd at least buy some goat food and feed and pet his goats for awhile.

As we (I) fed the goats, Hee and Haw's Dad pulled up on a covered wagon pulled by 2 Biiiiig Horsies. He couldn't have been nicer and asked how the pony ride was. I told him it didn't happen and he backed off a bit. We then hung out for awhile, talked about how sweet Hee and Haw were to Cooper and let Coop run around a bit. Just to express how genuine and "cowboy-like" (totally stereotyping I'll admit) here's an actual quote from Hee and Haw's Dad after watching Cooper run around:

"Sweetheart, I'm going to have to learn you to lasso so that you can keep up with that 'lil feller".

Well, that pretty much sold me on the guy. I had to become his friend. We talked a little while longer because that's what any mother does when she's starving for adult conversation. Before I knew it, he asked me if Cooper was comfortable with strangers and asked if he could give it a go at getting Cooper to ride Cody. I said sure. Giddy Up.

Without dragging this story out any longer, Hee and Haw's Dad had no problem getting Coop to ride. Of course, I had to take some pictures. In these shots it really doesn't look like Coop is enjoying it at all, but I assure you he did.

Thank-you to our new friends for introducing us to pony riding. I'm sure we'll be back.

When I tucked Cooper into bed last night, I asked him if he had fun riding the pony. He said "I ride Cody and Cody pooped.........pick up poop". Yes son, Cody pooped and I'm glad you had fun riding him. Something tells me we're going to have to buy Cooper a bigger shovel to play with.